Computer Economics Analysis of Nimda Code Battle Shows Progress in the War Against Malicious Code.Business Editors and High-Tech Writers CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 2, 2001 Nimda was clever and fast moving, and Computer Economics traced over 8,300,000 Nimda strikes. "More than 90% of the time Nimda landed on a machine; the cleanup process was done through automated au·to·mate v. au·to·mat·ed, au·to·mat·ing, au·to·mates v.tr. 1. To convert to automatic operation: automate a factory. 2. virus protection procedures," said Michael Erbschloe, vice president of research for Computer Economics. Many organizations that were barraged closed down their e-mail servers See mail server. . Those organizations that were not using automated virus protection support still faced the tedious job of doing clean-up one machine at a time. In addition, many small business and home users were hurt because they just had not gotten the message about the necessity of virus protection. Computer Economics estimates the impact of Nimda at about $590 million worldwide. "Overall we are getting close to a textbook model of response to a fast moving bug," said Erbschloe. "If a Nimda-like bug would have hit two or three years ago it would have taken months to clean up the mess; in this case automated clean up was key to controlling the bug." "Some people are calling Nimda another wake-up call, but if Nimda had a destructive payload (1) Refers to the "actual data" in a packet or file minus all headers attached for transport and minus all descriptive meta-data. In a network packet, headers are appended to the payload for transport and then discarded at their destination. it would have been a messenger sent by Satan," Erbschloe said. "This would have easily cost well over $3 billion in cleanup costs and another $3 billion in lost productivity if there was a killer payload and if there were no automated processes in place to eradicate Eradicate To completely do away with something, eliminate it, end its existence. Mentioned in: Smallpox the bug." Erbschloe, who is the author of "Information Warfare Also called "cyberterrorism," it refers to creating havoc by disrupting the computers that manage stock exchanges, power grids, air traffic control and telecommunications. While the term often deals with attacks against a nation, it may also refer to attacks on organizations and the : How To Survive Cyber Attacks" feels that although the launch of Nimda may have not been politically related to the terrorist attacks on the WTC WTC World Trade Center, see there and Pentagon there is a definite social relationship. "War in the 21st century will be fought on many fronts and cyber space is just one of them," Erbschloe said. "The Nimda attack shows that there are destructive forces that will time their attacks in ways to add to confusion and maximize destruction." About Computer Economics Computer Economics is an independent research firm specializing in helping business decision-makers plan, manage, and control technology costs through advisory services advisory services advisory services provided to the public, in their capacity as owners and managers of animals, are an important part of veterinary science. They may be provided by government bureaux, by commercial companies who deal in pharmaceuticals or animals or animal , analyst support, and innovative advisory Web sites. Based in Carlsbad, Computer Economics serves 82 percent of the Fortune 500. |
|
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion