Why Would Any Virus/Worm Just Attack W2k??

Published on August 17th, 2005

Posted by John C Dvorak in Column fodder, General

Bloomberg.com: U.S. — This worm seems like a good way to get people to get off of the W2K teat. W2K is the last MS-OS that could be transferred easily from machine to machine. And still one of the best most reliable OS’s.

A computer virus targeting Microsoft Corp.’s Windows software shut down machines at Time Warner Inc.’s Cable News Network and SBC Communications Inc., and may spread globally, according to antivirus software companies.

The destructive program is a strain of an existing virus known as Zotob affecting computers running the Windows 2000 operating system, according to Stephen Toulouse, security program manager at Microsoft. Trend Micro Inc., Japan’s biggest antivirus software maker, and Symantec Corp., the world’s biggest, raised their risk ratings on the virus.

“We are not aware at this time of a new attack. Our analysis has revealed that the reported worms are different variations of the existing attack called Zotob,” Microsoft’s Toulouse wrote in an e-mailed statement. He said customers who had updated their software or are using other operating system versions such as Windows XP, weren’t affected by the virus.

11 users responded in " Why Would Any Virus/Worm Just Attack W2k?? "

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# 1 James Ullman said, on August 17th, 2005 at 2:05 am

Um, could it be a virus released by MS? Perhaps to show how much “safter” XP is than 2k? Sounds more than just a little plausable.

# 2 R Taylor said, on August 17th, 2005 at 2:42 am

I saw this pathetic coverage on CNN. A guy kept holding a monitor up with WIN2K rebooting like it was the Hindenburg footage. On the plus side they stopped covering Madonna’s horse spill. If someone develops a virus that will permanently shut down Fox news, just post your paypal account for contributions.

# 3 Miguel Lopes said, on August 17th, 2005 at 7:25 am

The only one I could see interested in destroying Windows 2000 would be… Microsoft! Most corporations are hanging on to it instead of upgrading to XP. And why upgrade, I ask? The only thing XP gives you is a prettier (inter)face, maybe a teeny-weeny little bit more stability (my personal impression). And why upgrade to Vista when it comes? There’s no real reason… The only thing Vista will bring is the opportunity to be forced to upgrade to a much more powerful PC to do the same things you’re doing now, and perhaps get a few bugs that’ll take from 6 months to a year to sort out… Great, where can I get mine?

# 4 Chris said, on August 17th, 2005 at 7:28 am

Its not that the stupid thing only attacks W2K – its just that in this case XP does not have the same gaping hole as W2K!

# 5 Jim W said, on August 17th, 2005 at 9:19 am

The only reason this is a story is that the worm/virus hit CNN, ABC, and NYTimes hard. I was almost laughing watching CNN reporting it like it was the end of the internet while all the experts they talked to said it was a “low threat”

# 6 Todd said, on August 17th, 2005 at 11:03 am

I think I have proof that it wasn’t Microsoft involved with the worm, but rather Cubans with strong ties to the Don Corleone family!

Seriously, if Microsoft was at all involved in something like this it would have the potential to destroy the company. Perhaps Microsoft is evil, but not stupid.

# 7 Ed Campbell said, on August 17th, 2005 at 7:02 pm

You might think that Micro$oft did it — since the particular worm is now destroying other worms. But, if Micro$oft coded and released it, it probably wouldn’t work till V.1.2.

# 8 gquaglia said, on August 17th, 2005 at 10:27 pm

“The only thing XP gives you is a prettier (inter)face, maybe a teeny-weeny little bit more stability”

Wrong, what XP gives is M$ control over your OS through product activation. Gone are the days when you could take your purchased copy of Windows and install it as you saw fit. Now you must pay for each and every copy, prove yourself to M$ everytime you reinstall it and when M$ decides that XP is no longer for you, shut off product activation and force you to shell out more money to your GOD, Bill Gates.

Do I think M$ is somehow involved with this, you bet ya!

# 9 Teyecoon said, on August 17th, 2005 at 11:45 pm

As to whether M$ is involved…let’s see if they offer a $100k+ reward for the apprehension of the makers of these W2K worms like they did for the last one that also affected XP. Is this just coincidence or is it a method to FUD the non-upgraders that running old versions will cause them more security headaches than upgrading. Innocent or not, M$ is the one who created the atmosphere of non-trust and paranoia with their underhanded business tactics so it’s something for any rational person to wonder.

# 10 Turbocapitalist said, on August 18th, 2005 at 7:34 am

Why didn’t MS patch Win2000 at the same time the patched the same problem in XP on up? Also, what gives with the weird reporting? Both seemed like a marketing ploy to try to scare users off Win2000.

The normal style of reporting these kinds problems has been to refer to them as “Computer”- or “Internet”- worms, even though they are specific to a single vendor’s line of products, MS Windows. Now, suddenly, the Washington Post is naming not only the product, but also the version. This is an unusual and unprecedented change for the media.

However, it is somewhat familiar and resembles marketing themes. For years, MS representatives have only acknowledged criticism of specific product versions once those products have begun to near end of life and a push is being made replace them with other products. It could be, at least in theory, a causal relationship between Gates having influence there and the sudden change in reporting style.

One concern is that these marketing themes have been adopted by a major news outlet like the Washington Post. There are grounds to be concerned about a conflict of interest: Gates seems to have family and fans on the Washington Post’s board. Gates influences large advertising accounts and has been able to post editorials from time to time. The also Washington Post recently acquired MS’ technology mouthpiece, Slate (MS’ attempt to go after Salon). Any or all of these could be an influence on reporting and carry marketing themes into reporting.

The importance of influence over the media is underlined by the fact that the Washington Post articles are copied and translated by foreign news media the moment they are available. It is an unusual and unprecedented change for the mainstream media to suddenly begin reflecting marketing themes. I hope this is only due to carelessness rather than active partisanship on the part of the Post.
– Hey! I can’t find the preview button

# 11 AB CD said, on August 20th, 2005 at 5:22 pm

The Windows XP Auto Update is probably the biggest wormspyware/virus out there. Just today it downloaded and installed, and said it was rebooting in 5 minutes, but the option to restart later was not selectable!

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