Blindsided: Factoids

Worm Wars

• 15% the increase in "virus disasters"-attacks affecting more than 25 computers or servers at once-between 2003 and 2004.
• 4 of the worms of 2003-SoBig, Blaster, Welchia, and Mimail-appeared in one month, August.
• 70% of all e-mail on the Internet in late August 2003 carried the mass-mailing SoBig worm.
• 100,000 computers of 400,000 on the Navy Marine Corps Intranet were infected by the Welchia worm in August 2003
• 8 MILLION computers were infected by the Blaster worm as of April 2004.

SOURCE: Microsoft, Sophos, Symantec, TruSecure

Running Out of Time

The time between announcement of software vulnerabilities and the appearance of attacks exploiting them has collapsed. As electronic attackers strike more quickly with worms, viruses and other devices, every weakness is a target.

Days from announcement to attack:

• 180 Slammer
• 120 Nimda
• 42 Slapper
• 25 Blaster
• 7 RPCSS worm