'Blaster' master sought by FBI

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By

The FBI has begun an investigation into the origins of the "Blaster" worm, which already has a new variant and continued to wreak havoc on computer systems worldwide yesterday.

The worm has caused hundreds of thousands of machines to mysteriously crash and restart, costing businesses more than $500 million.

Also known as MSBlaster and LoveSan, it appeared Monday but spread quickly Tuesday, causing computers to crash at many businesses and government offices, including the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration and Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta.

Many Long & Foster real estate offices in Maryland and Virginia also were shut down both days. MVA reopened yesterday, but drivers trying to renew their licenses or car registration endured two-hour waits at offices.

Blaster exploits vulnerabilities in Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows NT software. The worm is programmed to cause Microsoft's Windows Update Web site to crash Saturday.

Microsoft alerted customers to the vulnerability in its software July 16, and offered a free software patch to download. While millions of computer users downloaded the patches, many others ignored the warnings and their machines became infected.

FBI spokesman Bill Murray declined to comment on the status of the investigation, except to say that it was reviewing a copy of the worm's code for clues.

"Taking the code and analyzing it will help us to determine whether it's someone who is savvy at writing these types of things or whether this came from someone who is inexperienced," Mr. Murray said.