SQL Slammer

SQL Slammer is the name of a computer worm that can infect an unpatched Microsoft SQL Server 2000. He began on 25 January 2003 to spread, and infected within half an hour 75,000 victims, most of them. During the first 10 minutes The SQL Slammer uses two buffer overflows. Microsoft had already half a year before released a patch, which was however not installed on many systems. The special thing about this worm is that it consists of a single UDP packet with only 376 bytes, which made for its enormous spread speed.

In some sources, the worm also Sapphire, MS-SQL Slammer, WORM_SQLP1434.A, SQL Hell or Helkern is called.

After the Nuclear Regulatory Commission of the U.S. report came in January 2003, the worm over an unsecured line in the IT system of the Davis -Besse nuclear plant in Ohio and put the security system for nearly five hours lame.

In November 2004, two members of the group 29A virus writers were asked by the police to the spread of the worm.