Microsoft posts "Bonk" patch
The giant posts a fix designed for the Windows NT server against the program, which allows users to wage denial-of-service attacks.
Microsoft still is working on a patch to protect Windows 95 from the program, which allows users to wage denial-of-service attacks.
Although the program has been making its way around the Web for a few days, if anyone has actually used it, Microsoft officials do not know about it.
The program has the potential to knock off just about any site directly connected to the Internet. When this happens, computers using a Microsoft operating system exeperience a blue screen of death, a term that refers to the blue screen that pops up on a computer when a Microsoft operating system experiences a "fatal" error.
The program, being called "Bonk" by hackers and "NewTear" by Microsoft, is based on another denial of service program simply called "Teardrop," which did the same thing but affected most servers.
Most of those who patched their servers to prevent Teardrop from being used were generally safe from NewTear, said Jiva DeVoe, a programmer who said he learned of the program while on Internet Relay Chat.
While hackers--also known by some as "crackers"--are constantly working on code that can be used to take Web sites offline, DeVoe said some are working double-time since the Justice Department ramped up its investigation of Microsoft.
In NewTear, the header describing the packet lies, saying the packet will either be larger or smaller than it really is, Roberts said. "Our TCP/IP gets this and gets confused."
"It would be like getting a book saying this is War and Peace and inside would be Tom Robbins," he said.
Roberts said that Microsoft had not received notification that the hack was used on them.
But, he added, Microsoft takes this and other malicious programs very seriously and is currently working to develop a fix for Windows.
Meanwhile, system administrators can block UDP packets, which is where the NewTear is carried, he said.