Fears that the Code Red computer worm would cripple the Internet appear to have been unfounded. Computer experts across the globe saw no immediate effect from the worm that had been expected to begin winding its way through Web servers from 1am last night.
Most big businesses and organisations were aware of the threat and are believed to have taken the right precautions to counteract it. "Currently, all government and private sector watch centres are not reporting any unusual activity associated with the Code Red worm, but we will remain vigilant and continue to monitor the situation throughout the night," Ron Dick, director of the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Centre, said last night after the deadline for the virus passed without trouble.
"While there is no activity now, it does not mean that the storm has passed. It will take some time before we can make any definitive conclusions," he added.
The Code Red worm infiltrates a server; then fills the machine's memory with nonsense computer code. Just before the server crashes, the worm is passed on to other vulnerable computers.
Only servers running Microsoft software "IIs" are vulnerable to the worm. The company has issued a patch for administrators to protect their servers. More than one million copies of the patch have been downloaded.
The vast majority of home and business users are immune to the worm, as they do not run server software.
