Credit: unknown
Known by such seductive names as Trojan.Gimmiv.A, W32.Wecorl, W32.Downadup, and Conficker, the worms utilizing the Windows Server Service overflow to propogate turned most of the internet’s Windows desktops into mushy piles of malware over the course of six months. The flaw itself, like most of the good bugs in Microsoft products, was being exploited in the wild for an unknown period of time before being picked up by the Microsoft Security Response Team. While the early worms just annoyed and confused, Conficker (named based on a domain name found in the original binary), continues to exploit new systems to this day. Conficker managed to infect everything from the UK Air Force to the City of Houston municipal court, along with millions of systems in between. Although dozens of speeders and small-time drug dealers in Houston appreciated the impact of Conficker, it was still considered one of the worst worms of 2008.