Blaster (computer worm)
2003 Windows computer worm / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Blaster (also known as Lovsan, Lovesan, or MSBlast) was a computer worm that spread on computers running operating systems Windows XP and Windows 2000 during August 2003.[1]
Technical name | As Blaster
As Lovsan As MSBLAST
|
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Aliases | Lovsan, Lovesan, MSBlast |
Type | Worm |
Isolation | 2004 |
Point of origin | Minnesota (B variant only) |
Author(s) | Jeffrey Lee Parson (B variant only) |
Port(s) used | Remote Procedure Call |
Operating system(s) affected | Windows XP and Windows 2000 |
The worm was first noticed and started spreading on August 11, 2003. The rate that it spread increased until the number of infections peaked on August 13, 2003. Once a network (such as a company or university) was infected, it spread more quickly within the network because firewalls typically did not prevent internal machines from using a certain port.[2] Filtering by ISPs and widespread publicity about the worm curbed the spread of Blaster.
In September 2003, Jeffrey Lee Parson, an 18-year-old from Hopkins, Minnesota, was indicted for creating the B variant of the Blaster worm; he admitted responsibility and was sentenced to an 18-month prison term in January 2005.[3] The author of the original A variant remains unknown.