Code Red: A Post MortemCode Red: A Post Mortem

Internet performance-management company Matrix.net says it saw anomalous Internet performance Aug. 1, at 2 a.m. Eastern time. According to the company's report, average Internet latency rose steadily. By 4 a.m. Eastern time, packet loss across the Internet spiked from 3% to 6.4%. The spike settled back to the expected 3% within an hour, but then steadily rose throughout the day.

The ability of users to access sites also declined between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. Eastern time, from 98% to 95%. Then it rose to 98% before finally settling at 97%.

A survey of 10,000 IIS 5.0 servers per day by the Cooperative Association For Internet Data Analysis reveals that the number of servers vulnerable to Code Red has declined sharply. Within 48 hours, the survey revealed that the number of vulnerable servers was slashed from 30%, where that figure had stood for six days, to roughly 12%. Experts figure the sharp reduction is largely due to the massive public-awareness campaign launched by the National Infrastructure Protection Center.

Still, by end of business Thursday, the number of infected servers had reached 276,237. The rate of infection appears to be steadily decreasing.