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Wired To Publish Slammer Source Code

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the here-take-two-copies dept.

Juan Carlos writes "Wired Magazine is going to publish the source code to the SQL Slammer worm in its next issue, due Tuesday, along with some kind of play-by-play of the worm's rapid spread. I actually think this is a neat idea for an article. But the fact is, the disassembly of Slammer (aka Sapphire) has been available on the Net since late January -- just hours after the worm started to spread."

17 of 158 comments (clear)

  1. You can picture it now.... by MosesJones · · Score: 5, Funny


    Reader : "I wonder if they've patched the internal servers here at work...."

    Types in the slammer code, compiles it and runs it up...

    Reader : "Nothing seems to be happening"

    Meanwhile in another part of the building

    Manager: "What do you mean the whole UAT environment has gone down?"

    --
    An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
    1. Re:You can picture it now.... by archen · · Score: 3, Funny

      If the users on the network I admin actually started compiling their own code, I'd shoot myself. It's bad enough not getting them to click on every attachment. God knows what they would compile on their own.

  2. But that doesn't mean... by Advocadus+Diaboli · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...that SQL-Slammer is going to be Open Source, does it?

    1. Re:But that doesn't mean... by ecalkin · · Score: 4, Funny

      the original code was (is) copyrighted, assuming it was written in a country that has copyright laws.

      somehow i don't think that the owner of this copyright is gonna be knocking on the door to complain.

  3. Bring down the internet without complicated worms by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 3, Funny

    June 5, 2003 -- Think of it as a how-to guide to bringing down the Internet.

    Here's my guide :

    1 - unplug the network cable

    Very effective DoS : nobody will be able to see your server from outside and your network connection will become very slow.

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
  4. SCO to sue ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... they had better pray that SCO code isn't used in it.

  5. What about the DCMA? by WIAKywbfatw · · Score: 2, Funny

    Is publishing this code a contravention of the DCMA?

    --

    "Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
    1. Re:What about the DCMA? by ch-chuck · · Score: 1, Funny

      The Digital Copyright Millennium Act? Wouldn't it sound better if they called it the Digital Millennium (TWO N's now!!) Copyright Act? How about the District of Columbia Media Association?

      --
      try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
    2. Re:What about the DCMA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Of course he'll sue 'em. This is the United States after all. For theft of trade secrets and intellectual property. But it will be struck down because reverse-engineering is a safe-harbor provision of the DCMA.

      So the the next generation Slammer Worm will come with a EULA prohibiting reverse and re-engineering. Of course there will only be an 'Accept' button, it is a virus after all.

  6. Re:But the fact is..? by Phroggy · · Score: 0, Funny

    You are apparently too lazy to click the links provided in the submitter's posting, also.

    This is Slashdot! You should be ashamed of yourself for suggesting such a thing. ;-)

    --
    $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
    $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
  7. Warning! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    A new vulnerability has been found in IE that exploits the feature of automatically executing machine code viewed in a text file.

  8. Source code? by Zog+The+Undeniable · · Score: 2, Funny

    Something this evil must be written in INTERCAL!

    --
    When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
  9. No, It's a clever ploy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    see, when the virus writer sues Wired under the DMCA or whatever, then the feebs know who to arrest!

  10. It's A Good Idea by defishguy · · Score: 2, Funny

    As a reminder to all readers of Wired (READ-UNSKILLED IT MANAGEMENT AND AMATEURS) that such a small amount of code can do the folling... 1.Disrupt ATMs and Banks 2.Take down servers (humorously unpatched) of the company that created the DB software to begin with 3.Disrupt web communications world wide 4.Cause huge shifts in resources at AV companies 5.Probably more. It is a good good thing. I'm not a coder... I get lost in my own batch file spaghetti as it is! I'm still impressed by the effectivness of the worm. With MS having such a dearth of companies willing to compete against it, black-hat folks seem to have filled the role that companies like BE couldn't. Keeping MS on its toes, and making sure that quality as a whole improves (okay... so there isn't much evidence of that last one, but I'm still hopefull!)

  11. I am waiting for by mental_telepathy · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Worms, Virii, and Trojans" cookbook from Betty Crocker.

    1. Re:I am waiting for by 3.5+stripes · · Score: 2, Funny

      Viruses.

      Betty Crocker always used correct english.

      --


      He tried to kill me with a forklift!
  12. Re:Like in the good old days... by AnotherSteve · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yeah, like when Dragon magazine had a program that would calculate the chi-squares on your die rolls so that you could determine if your dice were fair or not. I got my Mom to borrow an Apple ][ from her school so that I could type that damn thing in, and never could get it to work. I was so bitter. In the next issue they printed the errata...

    --
    Information wants to be $1.98/lb.