Servers Struck by 'Code Red' Virus

The U.S. military has blocked public access to nearly all its Web sites after its servers were attacked by a new computer virus. Late last week, the U.S. Space Command, which provides security for military computers, instructed all military organizations to block public access after a number of sites had contracted the virus, called the "Code Red" bug, according to an official. The virus is known as a "denial of service" bug, because it replicates itself by reading the log files on a network server and sending copies to other servers — thereby multiplying and sometimes crashing a system — and denying access to legitimate users of the site. One version of the virus, experts say, emblazons on sites it attacks the message: "HELLO! Welcome to http://www.worm.com! Hacked By Chinese!" "The Code Red worm did in fact show up in some DoD Web sites and we're working to contain that," command spokesman Army Maj. Barry Venable said. "Ways we're going about that [include] blocking public access to the Web sites, because that's the way this worm works, to prevent it from using our networks to propagate itself." The virus exploits a security flaw in certain Microsoft network servers. The flaw was announced last month when a patch was released to fix it. In recent weeks, variations of the virus are believed to have infected at least 225,000 business and institutional computer systems. Last Thursday, infected computers were instructed to flood the White House Web site, but with minutes to spare the White House was able to protect itself.