Our IT people are warning us about something called a Zotob MS05-039 worm, but they’ve caused more trouble than they’ve prevented in the past, so I’m leery about applying any changes they recommend. What is the Zotob worm, and how do I avoid getting into trouble with it?

Feisty users, the bane of all IT departments! Just kidding. Actually, the Zotob worm is interesting in that it’s only attacking Windows 2000 systems (which means if you’re not running Win2k you’re safe) and that it appears to be two different hackers actually having what the Wall Street Journal says is calling an Internet crime turf war! (Hollywood, are you listening?)

The sequence of events behind this particular worm are that about a week ago Microsoft announced a vulnerability in the Plug-and-Play subsystem in Windows 2000 and issued a security update or “patch” that prevented people from being infected. The worm authors then promptly swung into action, producing…