Win95/NT attack in CNN news

[David Honig <honig@206.40.207.40>]

http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9803/04/internet.attack.ap/


Hacker attack crashes
                    Windows systems
                    coast-to-coast

                    March 4, 1998
                    Web posted at: 10:05 a.m. EST (1505 GMT) 

                    SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Computer
                    security experts blame hackers for
                    an Internet attack that caused
                    computers running Microsoft's
                    Windows NT software to crash
                    from coast to coast, mostly in
                    government and university offices. 

                    While no real harm was done, it
                    was too early to gauge the full extent of the attack.
Experts said the
                    far-flung glitches could only have been the result of a
deliberate act,
                    The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Wednesday. 

                    The crash Monday night affected computers running
Windows NT
                    -- the operating system for larger computers and
networks -- and
                    Windows 95. 

                    Problems were reported at the Massachusetts Institute of
                    Technology, Northwestern University, the University of
Minnesota
                    and University of California campuses in Berkeley,
Irvine, Los
                    Angeles and San Diego. 

                    Unclassified Navy computers connected to the Internet
also crashed
                    on Point Loma and in Charleston, South Carolina,
Norfolk, Virginia,
                    and elsewhere. 

                    "It happened so fast," said Craig Huckabee, a research
associate in
                    the Computer Systems Laboratory at the University of
Wisconsin.
                    "In our department, I would have to say about 90
percent of the
                    machines were affected." 

                    Despite the coordination of the attack, the computers
that crashed
                    could be restarted without losing information, computer
security
                    experts said. 

                    The attackers used the Internet to broadly distribute a
snippet of
                    deliberately malformed data, said Ron Broersma, a
civilian computer
                    security expert at the Navy labs on Point Loma. 

                    The prank exploits a glitch in the Windows NT program by
                    instructing the computer to devote excessive memory
resources to
                    solve a problem that can't be solved. 

                    Microsoft security manager Ed Muth said the company is
working
                    on a software patch that fixes the vulnerability in
Windows NT
                    programs. 

                    An unidentified Microsoft executive told the
Union-Tribune it was
                    unknown if the attack was related to Microsoft Chairman
Bill Gates'
                    appearance Tuesday at a Senate hearing where he
defended his
                    company against allegations of antitrust violations. 
------------------------------------------------------------
      David Honig                   Orbit Technology
     honig@otc.net                  Intaanetto Jigyoubu

"But if we have to use force, 
it is because we are America;
we are the indispensable nation."
---Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright
http://www.jya.com/see-far.htm