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Code Red worm reportedly came from China


Friday, August 31, 2001 at 09:30 JST
WASHINGTON — The "Code Red" computer worm, which caused $2.4 billion in estimated 
cleanup costs on Internet-linked computers last month, seems to have been born at a 
university in China's southern Guangdong province, according to the nonpartisan 
investigative arm of the U.S. Congress.

"The worm is believed to have started at a university in Guangdong, China," Keith 
Rhodes, chief technologist at the General Accounting Office, said in written testimony 
on Wednesday before a House Government Reform subcommittee.

The testimony, delivered at a field hearing in Monterey, California, did not elaborate 
on the virus' alleged Chinese origin. Rhodes and his associates did not return calls 
seeking details.

Code Red infected more than 250,000 systems in just nine hours on July 19, shortly 
after it was first reported, according to the National Infrastructure Protection 
Center at FBI headquarters.

Reports in the Indian press earlier this month said the Code Red virus had been traced 
to the University of Foshon in Guangdong province.

Following the reports, Reuters contacted a laboratory technician at the University of 
Foshon's computer department who said he was surprised to learn of reports fingering 
the school because classes had been out since July 6 and the premises were being 
refurbished.

"All the students are on vacation and we're under construction. Even the electricity 
is down," the technician, who gave his last name as Hu, said in the August 7 telephone 
interview.

Asked about the congressional report, Navy Captain Robert West of the Joint Task Force 
for Network Operations, responsible for defending the U.S. military's information 
infrastructure, said the Defense Department was "not ready to attribute the Code Red 
worm to any specific actor at this point" while efforts to pinpoint the origin 
continued.

A spokeswoman for the FBI-led infrastructure protection centre, Debbie Weireman, said 
the Code Red worm and successors known as Code Red II and SirCam were still under 
investigation.

Zhang Yuanyuan, a Chinese Embassy spokesman, said he had no information about the 
origin of the malicious computer code. (Reuters News)


http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=7&id=65098

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