Battle between virus writers causes outbreak of worms

Network worms that attacked computers with Microsoft's Windows 2000 operating system on Tuesday may be linked to competition between rival hackers.

 

Computers at cable news station CNN, television network ABC and The New York Times and other computers across the United States have been hit. Trend Micro blames the havoc on various worms, including the Zotob worm that hit the Internet over the weekend and new variants of the Rbot worm.

Microsoft on Wednesday made available a free software tool to help victims of the worms that hit Windows computers in the past days clean their systems.