Computer Associates Urges Renewed Vigilance Against Anticipated July 31 ‘Code Red’ Worm Attack

ISLANDIA, N.Y., July 30 /PRNewswire/ — Computer Associates International, Inc. (CA), is urging personal computer users to take precautions against the anticipated July 31st re-emergence of the self-propagating “Code Red” worm, a malicious computer program designed to exploit a known Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) vulnerability to cripple and deface websites, and cause widespread Internet outages and slowdowns.

In conjunction with leading security organizations, CA is urging website managers to redouble their efforts to protect their servers and the Internet community as a whole by adopting sound security policies, immediately closing known security holes, and installing attack detection solutions such as CA’s eTrust Intrusion Detection. Previous outbreaks of the Code Red worm have already affected some 300,000 systems worldwide.

“‘Code Red’ reminds us that security is not just a single product, but rather an on-going, never-ending process where constant vigilance and action is required,” said Ian Hameroff, business manager, eTrust defense security solutions, CA. “In partnership with the U.S. National Infrastructure Protection Center and other groups, CA is doing its utmost to support organizations committed to combating dangerous security threats of the ‘Code Red’ variety.”

Organizations potentially affected by the Code Red worm include those with Internet site hosts running Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 with Internet Information Server (IIS) 4.0 or IIS 5.0 enabled and Index Server 2.0 installed, as well as Windows 2000 with IIS 4.0 or IIS 5.0 enabled and Indexing services installed. Such organizations are encouraged to reboot their Internet host machines to remove the Code Red worm, and immediately apply the software patch that addresses the IIS vulnerability. Visit http://ca.com/virusinfo/virusalert.htm#CodeRed for additional information and links to software patches.

About Computer Associates

Computer Associates International, Inc. (NYSE: CA) delivers The Software That Manages eBusiness. CA’s world-class solutions address all aspects of eBusiness process management, information management, and infrastructure management in six focus areas: enterprise management, security, storage, eBusiness transformation and integration, portal and knowledge management, and predictive analysis and visualization. Founded in 1976, CA serves organizations in more than 100 countries, including 99 percent of the Fortune 500 companies. For more information, please visit http://ca.com.

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