On Sunday, Aug. 13, computer worms named Zotob and Esbot began infecting systems across the Internet. The worms preyed on Windows 2000 systems that were missing a patch released only five days prior.

Two days before the worm outbreak, the LBNL Computer Protection Program (CPP) proactively isolated about 400 vulnerable/unpatched systems to protect the systems from the anticipated worm and notified system owners about the need to patch. LBNL has had no infections from this worm.

But many organizations were brought down due to the extremely short time between the patch release and the active worms. Organizations that were hit hard included offices on Capitol Hill and media organizations like CNN, ABC and The New York Times. CNN reported several hundred computers brought down Tuesday afternoon in Atlanta and New York. Hundreds of computers at Visa International processing headquarters in California were infected, forcing the company to send employees home as it scrambled to sanitize its computers.

To learn more about the CPP isolation system, go here.