14 May 2001
It's a knock out - virus attacks Cheggers' website
Sophos, a world leader in corporate anti-virus protection, has
reminded computer users of the importance of following safe
computing practices after a Unix worm took advantage of known flaws
in computer operating systems.
Thousands of websites are reported to have been affected by the
Unix/SadMind
worm, including that of TV presenter Keith 'Cheggers' Chegwin.
Visitors to cheggersbedroom.com usually see Chegwin fronting his
own internet programmes live from his bedroom, but this morning
they were greeted by an expletive-filled screen.
The worm affects unpatched versions of Microsoft Internet
Information Server (IIS) web server 4.0 or 5.0 and unpatched
versions of Solaris 7 or lower. When activated it scans networks
looking for web servers to infect and attempts to deface them with
an offensive message saying "f**k USA government f**k
PoizonBOx".
The worm accesses web servers via an exploit in the operating
system, but a patch for these vulnerabilities has been available
since 1999.
"This worm should act as a timely reminder to network managers
to practice safe computing and ensure their servers are up to date
with the latest patches" said Graham Cluley, senior technology
consultant at Sophos Anti-Virus. "To suffer this type of attack,
Chegwin's operating system must have been as exposed to the world
as he was when he presented Naked Jungle."
Sophos continues to recommend companies protect their desktops
and servers with automatically updated
anti-virus protection.
About Sophos
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.