This article contains information for network administrators and IT professionals about how to prevent and how to recover from an infection from the Blaster worm and its variants. Known as 'Blaster,' this new worm exploits the vulnerability that was addressed by Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-026 (823980) to spread itself over networks by using open Remote Procedure Call (RPC) ports on computers that are running any of the products that are listed at the beginning of this article. A worm is a type of computer virus that generally spreads without user action and that distributes complete copies (possibly modified) of itself across networks (such as the Internet). On August 11, 2003, Microsoft began investigating a worm that was reported by Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS), and the Microsoft PSS Security Team issued an alert to inform customers about the new worm. One function of a computer worm is to delete and replace files on a computer.This article describes virus alert about the Blaster worm and its variants and contains information about how to prevent and recover from an infection from the Blaster worm and its variants.Īpplies to: Windows 10 - all editions, Windows Server 2012 R2 Original KB number: 826955 Summary Be on the lookout for missing or new files.Has your computer seemed a little sluggish lately? Are some of your programs crashing or not running properly? That could be a red flag that a worm is eating up your processing power. When worms repeatedly replicate themselves, they start to use up the free space on your computer. Even if the scan comes up negative, continue to be proactive by following these steps. If you suspect your devices are infected with a computer worm, run a virus scan immediately. In addition to wreaking havoc on a computer’s resources, worms can also steal data, install a backdoor, and allow a hacker to gain control over a computer and its system settings.

Sometimes a computer worm’s purpose is only to make copies of itself over and over - depleting system resources, such as hard drive space or bandwidth, by overloading a shared network. Worms can modify and delete files, and they can even inject additional malicious software onto a computer. Once it’s installed, the worm silently goes to work and infects the machine without the user’s knowledge.

Once opened, these files could provide a link to a malicious website or automatically download the computer worm. Or computer worms could arrive as attachments in spam emails or instant messages (IMs). Worms can be transmitted via software vulnerabilities.

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