As of the end of the working day yesterday, the dreaded Code Red computer worm failed to make an appearance in Taiwan, but experts warned the public to remain vigilant.
Code Red, named after a soft drink popular among computer users in the US, is an Internet "worm." Like a computer virus, a worm is a software code developed to wreak havoc on computer systems that use the Internet.
They are called worms due to their propensity to burrow into the core of a site and steal information or use a computer server to launch attacks against Web sites.
"We've had a few corporate customers call about Code Red, but not because they have a problem. They saw news reports about it and wanted more information," said Axl Yen (
Code Red was set to begin launching attacks on Internet sites yesterday.
The same worm took over computer servers worldwide on July 19 and had them flood the White House Web site www.whitehouse.gov with messages, eventually crashing the site.
This kind of attack, called a "denial of service" attack, floods a Web site with data, like those launched against Yahoo February of last year. It shut down the sites for hours.
"The `Code Red' worm ... was designed to attack US-based Web sites. We don't expect it to have any impact on Taiwan," said Wang Teng-hsun (
On Web sites around the world, however, Code Red burrows in and defaces the home page, leaving the message "Hacked by Chinese." Despite the message, reports indicate the real hacker has yet to be identified. The good news for most computer users is that Code Red does not infect personal computers.
"This is not a threat to consumers," said John DeRiso, spokesman for Trend Micro. "It does not attack PCs. It only goes for computer servers running [Microsoft software]. If you're a company running a Web site, you have to be concerned about it."
Computer worms and viruses typically target Microsoft software, mostly because of the widespread use of the company's software, according to Russ McClay, Web page design specialist at Pro QC Studio in Taipei.
McClay said that when computer hackers make a worm or virus, they often want to cause mass destruction. The size of Microsoft's market -- over 90 percent of the world's PCs run the company's Windows operating system -- makes the software a prime target.
Since Microsoft Outlook e-mail software is tied to the Windows operating system, "if [a hacker] finds a hole in Outlook, then they have access to the core [Windows]," McClay said.
Microsoft offers a free patch to protect against Code Red at www.microsoft.com.
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