一种新的蠕虫病毒在上周末开始发作，到本周二，已经感染了更多运行中的Windows操作系统，这是Windows2000的用户面临的最为严重的病毒感染。这个名叫Zotob的蠕虫病毒及其变种，感染了很多公司，比如ABC、CNN、联合出版社（Associated Press）、纽约时报（The New York Times）等著名公司的电脑。

该病毒正引起处于同一网络中的公司电脑大面积地出问题，这比仅仅在个体用户中的传播要严重得多。这次攻击对Windows2000的影响最为严重，一周以前，微软公司发布了一个“紧急的”补丁来对付它。电脑可能由于操作系统的“即插即用”的硬件探测功能，而感染上该病毒。用于清理被感染系统的补丁和使用说明，可以在微软公司的网页上获取。

该病毒自身复制，然后寻找网络内的其它没有采取保护措施的电脑，它虽然不损坏数据，但是阻塞网络并偶尔导致主机重启。微软公司认为这个病毒的潜在危害并不大，公司的技术人员很快就能够消除它。

原文出处：the abc news ,August 16,2005

Windows Users Battle New Computer Worm

SAN FRANCISCO Aug 16, 2005 — A computer worm unleashed over the weekend infected more computers on Tuesday that run Microsoft operating systems, with Windows 2000 users most seriously affected.

The Zotob worm and several variations of it, known as Rbot.cbq, SDBot.bzh and Zotob.d, infected computers at companies such as ABC, CNN, The Associated Press, The New York Times, and Caterpillar Inc.

The worm is causing the most problems at companies with large, networked computer systems, rather than among individual computer users, said David Perry, a security analyst at Trend Micro Inc., a computer security company.

Caterpillar worked Tuesday to clean up effects from the worm, which disrupted computer operations at several company plants and offices over the weekend, the Peoria Ill.-based heavy equipment maker said. The problem was controlled by Monday afternoon, company spokesman Rusty Dunn said.

A week ago, Microsoft Corp. released a "critical" patch for the vulnerability, which is most severe on Windows 2000 systems. Those computers can be accessed remotely through the operating system's "Plug and Play" hardware detection feature. Protective patches, plus instructions for cleansing infected systems, are available on the company's Web site.

Perry said the worm copies itself and then searches networks for other unprotected machines, causing no damage to data but clogging networks and occasionally rebooting its host computer.

He called the worm's effects "small potatoes" in terms of the potential damage, and anticipated that corporate information technology staffs would quickly neutralize the worms. Additionally, Windows 2000 is more than five years old, and Microsoft has released several new versions of its operating system and security overhauls since then, further limiting the exposure.

"We did not see a widespread or fast spread of this in the first 24 hours," said Debby Fry Wilson, director of Microsoft's Security Response Center. "Over the last 24 hours, we've see variance, where other hackers will take the work and try to unleash a variant of the worm. So the worm continues to take on different forms."