Editorial: Worms getting smarter

Monday, Aug. 22, 2005 | 9:05 a.m.

Worms are evolving. Computer worms, that is. The ones that penetrated Microsoft's Windows 2000 operating system last week, infecting computers at The New York Times, CNN, Caterpillar Inc. and other companies, were of a whole new generation. The new worms, according to a report by Cox News Service, are so stealthy that computer operators don't have to do anything to activate them, such as opening an e-mail. Once inside a computer, they can "harvest" information such as Social Security numbers, credit card numbers and passwords. After that, they are capable of turning computers into robots, or "bots," that can be programmed to spew out all manner of spam.

The only reason the new worms were even noticed, the report said, is because of errors in their programming that caused some computers to shut down and restart. Imagine the opportunities for identity theft and theft of proprietary information once the hackers correct the programming.

There is one safeguard, however. The worms got in shortly after Microsoft announced its operating system had a vulnerability and issued a patch to fix it. Hackers learned of the announcement and acted before the companies applied the patch. The lesson here is to take warnings from software makers seriously, and instantly download the patch.

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