Fighting malware and spam

Win32/Blaster: a case study from Microsoft’s perspective

Matthew Braverman Microsoft

On August 11, 2003, the world of mobile malicious code changed with the release of the Blaster worm. Using a vulnerability in the Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems to infect a computer, the threat replicated to more computer systems than any other malicious software in history.

Since the release of Blaster almost two years ago, Microsoft has invested considerable resources in reducing the number of users infected with this threat, in addition to putting mechanisms in place to help prevent the class of vulnerability that Blaster exploited.

This paper provides deeply quantitative details and statistics that Microsoft has observed regarding the initial and continued effects of the worm on the global computing infrastructure and Internet users worldwide.