SQL Server Slammer (or Sapphire) Worm

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Below is the random thought titled "SQL Server Slammer (or Sapphire) Worm". Be aware that these thoughts may be based on opinion, and my opinion might not agree with yours. Also, the thought below may be based on mood, time of day, or any number of other factors. Please keep this in mind.

So this past weekend the Internet has once again been hit by another bandwidth gobbling worm. This time due to a 6 month old vulnerability in Microsoft's SQL Server 2000.

Most likely, there will be a number of online (and television, radio, newspaper) reports of the worm, blaming mostly Microsoft. Well, the facts are that Microsoft had very little to do with this problem. The real cause were lazy and/or unqualified system administrators who were not up to speed on their patches and service packs. I repeat, this is not Microsoft's fault. Their patch had been available 6 months prior to this worm's release, which should have been ample time for sysadmins to patch their servers as they should have.

And before you tell me how insecure Microsoft's products are, bear in mind that most of the Bugtraq reports I read are in fact for so-called secure systems like Unix and Linux. There are very few Microsoft reports, all things considered.

A suggestion for comapnies that were effected by the worm: fire your sysadmins and hire someone who knows what he or she is doing.

The Register Worm Report
What ISS Has To Say
Info From Symantec

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