Estimates by Internet Security Systems' X-Force threat team place the Sasser infections at 500,000 to 1 million machines so far. Microsoft has reported that 9.5 million patches for the vulnerability have been downloaded from its Web site.
"Whatever the numbers, this is the most significant threat of 2004," Dunham said.
The first two variants of Sasser caused systems to repeatedly reboot, another shared characteristic with Blaster. But the newer variations solved that problem. "The worms' author fixed the problem so [systems] don't reboot," said Dunham, which makes Sasser all that much more dangerous, since the rebooting "is a very obvious sign of infection."
The Sasser attack began with Sasser.a on Friday night, continued Saturday and Sunday with Sasser.b and Sasser.c, and rolled into Monday with Sasser.d.
"We're seeing a lot more attacks on Friday nights and Saturdays," said Dunham, a time when corporate IT staffs are at their lowest and many home users are logged on to the Internet. "It's a good time for worms to strike."
To realize the benefits of cloud-native software, an application must actually be cloud-native—designed to run in the cloud, interacting with disaggregated cloud services, fully manageable as code—to deliver the expected benefits.
By combining resources and expertise, the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium will offer a blueprint for how industries can adapt to an AI-dominated future.
IT leaders should heed the guidance of cybersecurity insurance providers who think businesses should prioritize security education, incident preparedness, regular internal audits, and ongoing vulnerability scanning and patching.
