Slammer Worm Overwhelms Internet in Minutes

In 2003, the Slammer worm (also known as SQL Slammer) spread across the internet with unprecedented speed, infecting tens of thousands of servers in under 15 minutes. The worm was only 404 bytes in size, but once inside a Microsoft SQL Server, it unleashed millions of copies to random IP addresses, rapidly overwhelming global networks. Over $1 billion in damages resulted from the outbreak, and the creator of Slammer remains unidentified.

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