SCO fights worm with alternate Web site

With its Web site under attack by the "Mydoom" computer worm, Lindon-based SCO Group opted Monday to create another site in order to carry on Internet activities.

The company, whose Web site was the subject of a "distributed denial-of-service" attack at www.sco.com as a result of the worm, put up an alternate site at www.thescogroup.com for people to access the company's Web information.

Those types of attacks cause infected computers to automatically flood a Web site with requests for information — more than the site can handle, causing the server to crash.

The company wants customers, resellers, developers, shareholders and other Web site visitors to use the alternate site through Feb. 12 — the end of the SCO attack set by the worm.

Mydoom, also known as "Novarg," began creating an attack designed to lock up the SCO Web site last week. The attack was supposed to start Sunday, but some requests designed to clog the site began flowing in almost immediately early last week, supposedly from computers with internal clocks containing incorrect data or time settings.

"Because one of its purposes is to interrupt access to the www.sco.com Web site, we are taking steps to help our important stakeholders continue to access the information, data and support that they need from this new www.thescogroup.com Web site," Darl McBride, president and and chief executive officer, said in a prepared statement.

In addition to mimicking the usual Web site's accessibility and resources, the alternate site includes links to security vendors, including Network Associates and Symantec, that can provide information on how to download software updates to protect against Mydoom.

Jeff Carlon, director of worldwide information technology infrastructure for the company, said SCO expects hundreds of thousands of attacks at the original site because of the virus.

SCO last week began offering a $250,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of whoever created the worm that created havoc at the company's Web site and caused e-mail troubles worldwide.

"We believe that Microsoft's $250,000 reward in addition to the $250,000 reward offered by SCO will significantly assist the FBI in obtaining serious leads that may help catch the perpetrators of this virus," McBride said.