Go, go gadget counter-worm! Apparently some clever monkey out there decided to use the RPC vulnerability inherent in unpatched Windows 2000, XP, NT 4, and Server 2003 systems to counteract the effects of another worm that has been in the news lately and causing all manner of problems for folks that don’t keep their systems updated, their computer consultants, and their overburdened ISP tech support departments. Some will say (and probably have for a few hours already) that fixing a worm with another worm is highly unethical. By what ethical standard, I am unsure. If well-executed, it would seem to fulfill the criteria of the Principle of Utility quite nicely. This is widely accepted as one of the most reasonable ethical yardsticks available these days, so I’d be interested in seeing where that debate ends up taking us.
I smell a tasty new Comedy Central bomb in the making: “BattleWorms”
They can start each show with a 25 workstation LAN, chock full of boxes with various unpatched versions of Windows, and let small teams of geeks have their way with them. Are you ready to see the bits fly?
Blue screen of death? More like blue screen of TRIUMPH!
hmmm, Another worm…Somebody had too much time on their hand…
*sigh*
Than again, without those evil tidbits, tech support people would be out of job…
*Sweatdrops*
Just my $0.02 worth…
hyperboomer
Well, the concept of a counter-worm (a worm that patches the very exploit it uses to spread) strikes me as clever and somewhat altruistic. The problem with this particular worm is that it isn’t very subtle about it, and is known to have side-effects. I suspect this is an artifact of sloppy coding.