A computer worm disrupted the networks of U.S media organizations today, but has had no visible impact upon major web sites. The worm, which uses a vulnerability in Windows PnP to target Windows 2000 machines, knocked computers offline at CNN, ABC News and the New York Times. The damage appears to be limited to internal corporate networks, as the web sites of the U.S. Fortune 100 show no unusual outages, including the 18 companies in the index hosted on Windows 2000. Likewise, Britain's FTSE 100, which has 36 sites running on Win2K, shows no suspicious performance problems either.

Working exploits for new Windows vulnerabilities began appearing on the Internet last Thursday, just two days after the security holes were outlined in Microsoft's monthly security advisory. Over the weekend the Zotob worm appeared, compromising unpatched Windows 2000 machines.

Exploits are circulating for at least two new vulnerabilities in Microsoft software, barely two days after the critical security holes were disclosed in security advisories. The swift availability of working exploit code provides additional incentive for Windows users to update their systems promptly following the monthly release of security patches.

Microsoft acknowledged Thursday that "detailed exploit code " had been published for a vulnerability in Plug and Play technology that could allow a remote attacker to take control of a Windows machine via the Internet, with Windows 2000 systems being at particular risk. "Users running Windows 2000 are vulnerable to a potential worm attack that would take advantage of this flaw," noted security research firm eEye Security. The vulnerability, known as MS05-039, is addressed in the latest Windows Update patches issued Tuesday.

The market for resold domains continued to trend higher with a series of spectacular deals this month. Meanwhile, prices for first-time domain registrations can't get much lower, with pricing unchanged at all major providers this month.

The sales of website.com and property.com for $750,000 apiece set the pace in the resale market. The mid-July sale of website.com was the highest sale price this year, according to auctioneer Sedo.com, topping the $700,000 sale of Local.com in March. The buyer, Hub Services Ltd., operates DotEasy, a free hosting service in British Columbia. That price was matched early this month when New Jersey commercial real estate professional Ted Kraus sold property.com for $750,000 in a private sale, with industry veteran Rick Schwartz reported to be the buyer.

As in July, pricing for first-time domain sales remained stable, with no significant price changes by major providers.

Jumpline, France Telecom and Pair Networks share the top slot as as the most reliable hosting company sites this month.

Pair, a Pittsburgh, Pa. shared hosting company, is a regular in our survey, with numerous top 10 appearances in addition to being the most reliable provider in February 2005, July 2004 and February 2004. Jumpline was previously the most reliable provider in April 2004. The Columbus, Ohio provider specializes in virtual private servers. France Telecom made its first appearance in our reliability survey in May.

This month Linux, Windows and FreeBSD all have 3 sites each in the top 10, with one running Solaris.

The Web Server Survey marks its 10th anniversary this month with a milestone, as we now find more than 70 million web sites on the Internet. The August 2005 survey received responses from 70,392,567 sites, an increase of 2.8 million hostnames. This gain, together with the last month's increase of 2.7 million sites, marks the biggest two-month increase in the history of our survey. It comes just five months after the survey crossed the 60 million mark in March of this year, another sign that Internet growth is eclipsing even the torrid pace of the dot-com boom.

The first Netcraft survey in August 1995 found 18,957 hosts, with the NCSA web server dominating with 57 percent market share, leading CERN (19%) and a newcomer named Apache (3.5%). Microsoft's Internet Information Server launched in February 1996, and by the survey's fifth birthday the server market was largely divided up between Apache (62%) and IIS (19%).

That trend has continued, with Apache extending its share to nearly 70 percent this month as the survey has returned to its trend of incremental changes in share for Apache and Microsoft. Both are seeing steady growth, as Apache has added 11.9 million sites since last August, while Microsoft servers have added 10.7 million.