Worm Fears Raised After Release of Windows Malware

Attack code exploiting a recently-patched vulnerability in Windows operating system has been posted to the Internet, prompting concerns of a widespread attack. The software was added to the widely used Metasploit project — a favorite of both security researchers and malicious hackers — at around 1.00am Thursday morning Pacific Time, according to HD Moore, the Metasploit project leader. It works very reliably against Windows 2000 and Windows XP systems that do not have SP2 [Service Pack 2] installed, he said in an e-mail