Sasser is a computer worm that gains access to personal computers via a hole in Microsoft's Windows. As opposed to a virus, which often travels by e-mail and relies on the user to click on an attachment, a worm can spread by itself, without human intervention. Therefore, it can enter a computer as long as it is connected to the internet. The worm, which only affects computers running recent versions of Windows XP and Windows 2000, causes some computers to continually crash and reboot, but it does not appear to cause any permanent damage to files or machines. The worm is then sent out by the infected computers.
So far four variants of Sasser have been spotted on the internet. The latest version, Sasser.D, scans so aggressively for new computers to infect that it may cause networks to become congested with packets of data and slow down. It is estimated that more than one million computers have been infected. Microsoft and many security firms have released software tools to help determine if a computer is infected and to then help remove the virus from the system. Microsoft suggests that Windows software should be kept up to date by regularly downloading the latest patches for free from Microsoft. Computer users are also advised to install anti-virus software and keep it up to date. Those who have a broadband connection should use a personal firewall to close the backdoors that some malicious programs install on PCs.
Last updated: June 21, 2004.
