(4 May 2004) Washington, D.C. 1. Technician looking at infected computer 2. Sasser Worm shutting down computer 3. Symantech Norton Antivirus Website 4. Threat matrix on the Sasser Worm 5. More of Symantech Norton Antivirus Website explaining worm threat Herndon, Virginia 6. Exterior of NetSec office building 7. Operations monitoring centre with big screens 8. Various of computer technicians monitoring network security traffic 9. NetSec Chief Technology Officer, Christopher O'Ferrell speaking with computer technician 10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Christopher O'Ferrell, NetSec Chief Technology Officer: "As far as what it does to a system, the actual Sasser worm is just using systems to spread itself and it is causing a lot of network traffic and taking down services just by the nature of how it spreads. So that is the damage it is causing." 11. NetSec homepage with security alerts 12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Christopher O'Ferrell, NetSec Chief Technology Officer: "The timeframe from actual vulnerability being known to a worm has now gone down from roughly six months to just two weeks time." 12. Pan across network monitors 13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Christopher O'Ferrell, NetSec Chief Technology Officer: "As new variants come out, the names change, so the best advice is to stay current on site and download the latest programs because I could tell you right now the names of the files, but they are already changing from variant D - while we are talking it is already changing." 14. Various of technicians monitoring computer screens and network traffic STORYLINE: A computer worm snarled hundreds of thousands of machines worldwide on Monday in the latest virus-like outbreak to take advantage of a known flaw with the Windows operating system. Because the new worm, dubbed "Sasser," does not require users to click on an e-mail attachment to activate, it spreads more rapidly than most viruses. It was discovered late on Friday and spread on Monday as employees returned to work and booted their machines. The worm caused some computers to continually crash and reboot, apparently the result of bad programming by the virus writer rather than intent, security experts said. Sasser does not cause any permanent damage to files or machines, they added. Among victims were large companies in Germany, Britain and the United States that are clients of Network Associates Inc., said Vincent Gullotto, a vice president at the company's anti-virus research lab. He would not name the companies. A large television network in Europe also was hit, two security sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity and refusing to elaborate. Though Microsoft Corp. announced three weeks ago the flaw that Sasser exploits - it's a Windows function called Local Security Authority Subsystem Service - many computer owners had yet to apply the software fix the company had released. Once Sasser infects a computer, it automatically scans the Internet for other computers with the flaw and sends a copy of itself there. Christopher O'Ferrell, Chief Technology Officer at Herndon, Virginia-based NetSec, which provides network security for many key government agencies, said that the Sasser worm appeared tied to the Netsky group of hackers. He added that the Sasser worm, currently circulating in four variants, is mainly doing damage by overwhelming system resources, leading to productivity losses to employers. O'Ferrell added that Sasser continues a trend in which virus writers take advantage of announced flaws more and more rapidly. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/b6cc1d26e6be73a585d5e048f4dbf618

• published: 21 Jul 2015
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