January’s Slammer infection held valuable lessons for all security stakeholders. The rapid spread of W32.SQLExp.Worm, more commonly known as Slammer, demonstrates yet again several glaring problems with the state of Internet security today. In so doing, it again raises the question of when, if ever, we will see positive improvements to our collective security posture. This is particularly evident as the mass media is focused on the Slammer exploit itself but it refuses to ask the tough questions needed to address the issues. Sure, we know that Slammer targeted SQL servers running on Microsoft Windows. We know that Slammer consumed network bandwidth around the world as its spurious packets were transmitted globally. We know that system administrators did not apply patches that had been available for some time. And we know that several American critical infrastructures — some bank ATMs, a 911 service in Bellvue, Washington, and allegedly some aircraft — were affected by it. Full Story
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