Witty (computer worm)

<p>The Witty worm  was a <a href="/facts/Computer_worm/9qKR1Hx5">computer worm</a> that attacked the <a href="/facts/Firewall_(networking)/Et2RkJaU">firewall</a> and other <a href="/facts/Computer_security/7E5dIy7G">computer security</a> products written by a particular company, the <a href="/facts/Internet_Security_Systems/70eDwhWl">Internet Security Systems (ISS)</a> now IBM Internet Security Systems. It was the first worm to take advantage of vulnerabilities in the very pieces of <a href="/facts/Computer_software/RP79lVSW">software</a> designed to enhance <a href="/facts/Network_security/09f8YxwD">network security</a>, and carried a destructive payload, unlike previous worms. It is so named because the phrase "(^.^) insert witty message here (^.^)" appears in the worm's payload.
</p><p>The Witty worm incident was unique in that the worm spread very rapidly after announcement of the ISS vulnerability (a day later), and infected a much smaller and presumably harder-to-infect (because the administrators had taken security measures) host population than previous worms.
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Witty (computer worm) open-in-new

Witty (computer worm)