NISER Warns Internet Users Of Worms Outbreak, More Expected
28yh August 2003 (Bernama)

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 28 (Bernama) -- The National ICT Security and Emergency Response Centre (NISER) alerts users on the severity of recent worms outbreak propagating in the internet which is classified as an infrastructural attack.

The attacks by internet worms, W32.Blaster and W32.Nachi, and e-mail worm, W32.Sobig.F, which first emerged between Aug 12 and Aug 20, were classified as quite similar to the Code Red and Nimda worms attacks between June and November 2001.

Director of NISER, Lt Kol Husin Jazri, said many organisations, including multinational and telecommunication companies, were badly hit by these worms which caused their networks to come to a stand-still.

He said the estimated cost of RM31 million spent to eradicate these worms showed the severity of the outbreak.

He added that some internet users were not even aware of it.

"This estimated cost does not include opportunity cost and productivity loss," he said in a press conference to update the worms outbreak here Thursday.

"Nachi worm is still at its peak and appropriate actions must be taken immediately," he said.

Those who have been affected are urged to report to Malaysian Computer Emergency Response Team (MyCERT).

"We are the trusted party which was formed by the government to address national ICT security issues such as these, and we will never penalise those who report such cases," he said.

He added that NISER aimed to maintain confidentiality of the report and would give free advice on how to deal with the current attack.

On the other hand, he said NISER had released alerts, advisories and press releases following the attacks and went as far as deploying personnel to troubled organisations, supporting them through emails, phone calls and faxes as well as distributing advisories and CD containing patches and fixes.

"We are trying to respond to every inquiry and we hope more people are aware and will come forward to report to enable us to take action," he added.

He said there were only handful of cases reported to MyCERT so far, including 17 cases of Blaster worm, 21 cases of Nachi Worm and 41 cases of Sobig.F worm.

"We believed, unofficially, there are more cases that have yet to be reported. The official number reported is just a tip of an iceberg," he added.

He advised users, including those who dependend heavily on computers, to have an effective patch management system and adopt best practices and information security standard as there were anticipation of new attacks from new variant of internet worms.

For more information, users can visit these websites -- www.niser.org.my or www.mycert.org.my.