Code Red II Sweeps China, Paralyzing Many Internet ServersThe second generation of Code Red virus has run rampant in the country, incurring great losses and landing anti-virus experts head over ears in work, according to a report by KILL Anti-virus Network.By August 8, the Code Red II has invaded into over 20 provinces and municipalities like Beijing, Zhejiang, Guangzhou, Jiangsu and Sichuan, paralyzing quite a number of Internet servers, including that in some government departments. Many netizens found that the e-mail transmission rate at some domestic websites had been slowed down obviously with some of e-mails even delayed for over 24 hours. The damage caused by the bug was more serious than that of the CIH and the worm loomed to be the most dangerous one to endanger the nation's computer network. The Code Red II is a mutation of the deadly Code Red worm, which wreaked worldwide havoc a few days ago, and the new version of the virus would be more infectious and more destructive. Code Red II can not only be infectious on English operating systems but also on Chinese Windows NT or Windows 2000 operating systems, and with a double speed as compared to that in English operating systems. Once the virus gets into the network, it will send clusters of requirements to the servers to overload the routers, thus paralyzing the whole network. Unlike common computer viruses, Code Red only exists in the RAM and can spread directly to nearby computers without a carrier like documents. Furthermore, the bug itself will release a hacker program to facilitate hackers' attack. Anti-virus experts predicted that the deadly bug would pose greater threats to domestic computer security systems in several days to come and they urged computer users to download and install Microsoft's patch program and to make perfect Internet security systems as well. |
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