As an outsource security partner BAI provides managed security, managed firewall, managed ids, content filtering, internet security, network security, penetration testing, and vulnerability testing.

Media outlets have been hard hit by computer worms based on recently discovered Microsoft Plug and Play vulnerability (MS05-039). Computer systems at CNN, ABC, The Financial Times, and the New York Times have all been disrupted. General Electric, United Parcel Service and Caterpillar were some of the other well-known organizations affected by the attack.  The actual overall number of infected firms will likely be very significant before the intensity of this threat has diminished. 

Managed Security firm, BAI Security warns such attacks are not unusual and that organizations left unpatched against vulnerabilities can expect to be regular targets for virus writers, hackers and phishers. We’ve written hundreds of custom security signatures and developed correlation logic on top of already extensive built-in IDS/IPS signatures to protect against this exact type of activity.  BAI stresses the point that common non-managed perimeter-based security solutions are often not effective in protecting against these threats.  BAI confirmed that none of their fully Managed Service clients were affected by the new worm.

Virus writers have created a number of viruses targeting the Plug and Play vulnerability following the disclosure of the security bug by Microsoft last week and the publication of an exploit days later. Unlike the Sasser, Nimda and Blaster outbreaks of previous years it's not immediately clear which of a new batch of worms is causing the most damage. Zotob, the first malware to exploit the vulnerability, has been joined by several others including an IRC bot, a version of the infamous Rbot worm written to take advantage of the Windows security flaw.

Windows 2000 machines left unprotected by a firewall are most at risk from attack.  Almost half of corporate desktops run Win2K, according to June estimates from asset management firm AssetMetrix, and when an infected machine gets plugged into these environments all hell can break loose.

"The big organizations that are getting hit right now have most likely introduced the infection to the internal network via infected laptops," said Mikko Hyppönen, director of anti-virus research at Finnish anti-virus firm F-Secure.

The UK’s FT carries a report stating that it was hit possibly by a variant of the ZoBot worm. CNN said its computer systems in New York and Atlanta were hit by an unspecified worm on Tuesday afternoon. ABC carries an AP report of the infection of some of its computer systems. Over at the New York Times an infection hit both newsroom and corporate PCs.