What Does Witty Worm Mean?
Witty Worm is a type of computer malware that attacks security systems created by Internet Security Systems (ISS) (now known as IBM ISS). The Witty Worm bypasses firewalls by sending itself to random IP addresses with random destination ports. Witty Worm has a destructive payload that erases data and creates potentially high levels of destruction. The Worm is less than 700 bytes in length. The Witty Worm is a milestone in malware history because it represented the first malware instance known for targeting a particular set of security products. The Witty Worm is also the first worm known for destroying its hosts.
Techopedia Explains Witty Worm
In 2004, the Witty Worm emerged as a well-written and destructive virus that infected and damaged 12,000 systems within a span of only 45 minutes. The Witty Worm was released from a bot network of 100 infected machines - a previously unknown methodology. The Witty Worm infected computers running the following products:
