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08.19.05
Zotob Clears Customs At Airports
 By
David Utter
Computers at airports across the United States experienced problems Thursday evening, delaying travelers for hours.
A computer system utilized by the US Customs Service apparently took a broadside from the Zotob worm, delaying thousands for people for hours at multiple airports across the country, according to several sources.
New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and Houston were among places where customs officials had to manually process arriving passengers. Miami reportedly saw several thousand people waiting until midnight to be cleared to enter the United States from other countries.
A Customs spokesman told AP that the problem happened to a database system in Virginia, lasting from 6 pm until 11:30 pm. While no one has officially named Zotob as the culprit, its rapid spread and the problems associated with affected systems seem to point a blood-stained finger or two at that quick-spreading worm.
The Zotob worm family came into being very quickly, with Microsoft disclosing a Plug and Play flaw on August 9th and reports of the worm entering the wild being noticed on August 14th.
About the Author:
David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.
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