Worm strikes U. Internet server

Internet service providers worldwide -- including those used on campus -- experienced problems Saturday as a result of a virus-like worm called the "SQL Slammer" that possibly infected those with a Microsoft system. Two of the core PennNet routers experienced problems beginning at approximately 12:30 a.m. on Saturday. This led to difficulty for Penn students and staff -- especially those in Wharton -- in accessing e-mail and the Internet. The University's Information Systems and Computing first received complaints at 9 a.m. on Saturday. Eleven machines reported problems to the ISC, eight of which were confirmed and removed from PennNet. The rate at which the worm spread, coupled with the randomness with which the worm's attacking code selected victim computers, made its impact particularly large, according to Information Security Officer Dave Millar. In fact, CNN reported on Saturday that Symantec Corp., an anti-virus vendor, estimated that the worm affected at least 22,000 systems worldwide. By late Saturday night, the PennNet routing core system had become stable, and the networking service had been restored to the majority of PennNet. "Everything seems to have quieted down," Millar said. "But we still have a few machines to fix." While it seems that College and Engineering students were less affected by the worm, several Wharton students experienced major problems accessing their email. "My email wasn't working at all," Wharton freshman Kunal Jain said. "There were a few e-mails I was expecting from teachers that I couldn't access, so I wasn't able to do my work." Wharton freshman Casey Nelson also experienced problems that affected his plans for schoolwork over the weekend. "Huntsman computers were down for most of Saturday," Nelson said. "They started to work later in the night, but my room computer still wasn't working because I don't have the software that Huntsman computers have, so I couldn't get the information I needed for my classes." College junior Spencer King had no problems with e-mail, but said his Internet connection and certain sites he needed for school were slower than usual. Other students said they were unfazed by the campus-wide problems. "The Internet slowdown would have affected my work on other weekends but not this weekend," King said. Millar warned that people returning to work today after not having used their computers all weekend may experience some delayed problems with their e-mail servers and Internet connections. Millar also cautioned that it is likely that a slight variant of the worm could emerge in the next few weeks or months. But as long as Penn students and faculty access the necessary general prevention software, their computers will be safe from any future attacks, Millar hopes. He recommends keeping up with Windows updates, which are periodically prompted by Windows or can be accessed and downloaded from the Microsoft Web site.