The malicious Code Red worm--which ran a denial-of-service attack on the White House Web site earlier this month--is expected to begin propagating itself July 31. First port of call, New Zealand.
Computer security organisation Trend Micro says the worm will hit with full force on August 1.
Anti-virus experts are warning that a sudden flood in data could hinder the performance of the Internet as the worm continues to search Web servers for new hosts to infect.
According to anti-virus company Symantec, as of tomorrow the worm's infiltration into Web servers--which are the backbone of the Internet--may cause the Internet to slow down and some services could grind to a halt.
The time sensitive worm latches itself on to vulnerable Microsoft IIS Web servers, lying in wait on the system's memory. Once the server's clocks roll over to the 20th of each month, the worm then launches its denial-of-service attack.
According to Trend Micro, six million Web sites worldwide are based upon the Microsoft IIS Web server technology.
The software giant and anti-virus vendors are trying to reduce the flow of strain on the Internet, however Trend Micro says the severity of the attack depends on the end-users, who are looking after the servers.
-Administrators have to be vigilant in protecting Web servers. Everyone's been alerted, it shouldn't be too hard. But its up to the people out in the field which we hope have applied the patch," Trend Micro managed services architect Andrew Gordon said.
Microsoft has urged administrators to patch the hole on Web servers before the second bout of attacks were due to begin.
The biggest issue, according to Symantec, is the potential to slow everything down considerably if it continues to propagate at the rate it has been.
Don't be a bludger
Sophos Anti-Virus is calling on Australian system administrators who use IIS not to be bludgers.
"Get the fix and use it," warns Paul Ducklin, Sydney-based Head of Global Support at Sophos.
"Those who attack computer systems with worms and viruses are criminals, make no mistake about it. But that is no excuse for sitting back and waiting to become a victim. If you use IIS and you haven't acted already, do so now."
The company says Code Red is not the only malicious software to highlight tardiness among system administrators. The Kakworm virus, which spreads via email, is still regularly reported in Australia.
"But, like Code Red, a patch from Microsoft renders it (and any virus like it) completely ineffective. The fix for Kakworm was published in 1999, but despite nearly two years of warnings, many computers round Australia remain vulnerable".
