Nimda
Nimda
Malicious file infecting computer worm
The Nimda virus is a malicious file-infecting computer worm. It quickly spread, surpassing the economic damage[citation needed] caused by previous outbreaks such as Code Red.
The first released advisory about this thread (worm) was released on September 18, 2001.[3] Due to the release date, exactly one week after the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, some media quickly began speculating a link between the virus and Al Qaeda, though this theory ended up proving unfounded.[citation needed]
Nimda affected both user workstations (clients) running Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, or XP and servers running Windows NT and 2000.[3]
The worm's name comes from the reversed spelling of "admin".[citation needed]
F-Secure found the text "Concept Virus(CV) V.5, Copyright(C)2001 R.P.China" in the Nimda code, suggesting its country of origin. However, they also noted that a computer in Canada was responsible for an October 11, 2001 release of infected emails alleging to be from Mikko Hyppönen and Data Fellows (F-Secure's previous name).[4]