Wanted to pass this along to the list:
Stewart
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[x] News
[  ] PR
[  ] Op/Ed

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/zd/zd4.htm

11/30/98- Updated 01:47 PM ET
The Nation's Homepage

Worm strikes Linux
From: Inter@ctive Week

Network operators around the world are trying to eradicate a "worm" program
that has taken over the central programming of many of their computers and
disrupted operations.

The intrusion appears to be aimed at Internet service providers' Internet
Message Access Protocol (IMAP) servers, which manage e-mail systems.
Networks running the Linux operating system version 5.0 from Red Hat
Software Inc. on Intel Corp.-based machines appear to be particularly
susceptible.

The problem was identified in June by the Computer Emergency Response Team
at Carnegie Mellon University. Red Hat, as well as other vendors, posted
software fixes, but not everyone was aware of the breach; some didn't patch
their operating software.

Now, hackers are using the weakness to perpetuate the worm program. The
program quietly takes over key components of the root, or central, program
and uses the host computer to probe and attack other networks without the
systems administrator's knowledge.

"The problem with these things is that once they become known, hackers use
the CERT advisories to probe networks," said Daniel Senie, president of
Amaranth Networks Inc. Someone tried to break into Senie's network to find
the IMAP weak spot, but the firewall held.

The hacker left a few clues behind: The attacks came from California
Polytechnic State University, the City University of New York and several
other schools. But those locations aren't likely to be the hackers' home
base. "They've done a reasonable job making it look like the [code] they
added was there all along," he said.

By Randy Barrett

Copyright © 1998, Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

©COPYRIGHT 1998 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.



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