On this day in history – Code Red worm attacks Microsoft web servers

July 13, 2001: Code Red was a computer worm observed on the Internet. It attacked computers running Microsoft’s IIS web server. The Code Red worm was first discovered and researched by eEye Digital Security employees Marc Maiffret and Ryan Permeh, the Code Red worm exploited a vulnerability discovered by Riley Hassell. They named it “Code Red” because Code Red Mountain Dew was what they were drinking at the time. Although the worm had been released on July 13, the largest group of infected computers was seen on July 19, 2001. On that day, the number of infected hosts reached 359,000.