Nimda, worms, and life on the Internet

54

Author: JT Smith

Commentary from Linux Journal: “If all web servers were running IIS and all desktops were running MS Windows, Nimda would likely have brought the whole Internet to its knees. Fortunately, the
majority of the web servers run Linux or some UNIX variant as an OS and an assortment of server software. Thus, to successfully attack most web servers, the
adversary would have to create either an assortment of worms for each potential OS/server combination, or one giant worm with all the features to attack all
servers.

Before you say “but Linux and/or Apache is better”, let me stop you. They very likely are better than NT/IIS, but they are not bug-free. If Linux/Apache was the
only target, someone would be out there creating a worm to attack it.”