Word: codes
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When I heard that a major worm, Code Red, was about to strike computers worldwide, I immediately got on my Mac and tried to catch it. I figured if I could infect my computer so badly that it broke, I wouldn?t have to do the little bit of work expected of me. If the affliction went well, I might bring down all of AOL Time Warner. I have a real problem with the company since it took away our Snapple. That, and I had to sit through part of that last Tom Hanks?Meg Ryan movie...
...Never mind that the majority of business-type servers run other companies' software, and were therefore never affected in the first place. Never mind that it was a sadly typical security flaw in Microsoft's server software that allowed Code Red to flourish. Note also that the million-plus people drawn to Microsoft's website by that patch included many thousands who didn't need it (the worm only hits Windows NT or 2000. Windows 95, 98 and ME are unaffected...
...digress. Worms and viruses like this are a fact of online life. The moment you have a vast global network, you have people gleefully trying to scrawl graffiti all over it (such as Code Red's inane scribble "hacked by Chinese!!!"). It's human nature. The good thing is that in the long run this makes the system stronger through the act of resistance. That's also human (or rather, Darwinian) nature...
...Because what we're preparing for is not the Code Reds of today, but the Code Deep Purples of tomorrow. Not half-assed worms cobbled together by so-called "script kiddies" who merely download the right pieces of code and whose intentions are basically benign. I'm talking about vast and malicious super worms. If you could create something that attacked Cisco router software, for example, you really would cause a global Internet meltdown...
...most, Code Red proved you should always be wary about what Microsoft software does to your machine, like turning it into a server without your implicit knowledge. Apart from that, the whole red-alert reaction only demonstrated that there's seemingly infinite space on the Feds' faces for more egg. That's what happens when you cry wolf over a microbe, guys...