25 Years After Code Red: What the Worm Era Can Teach Us About AI Security

July 20, 2026 · Dark Reading · Severity: MEDIUM

Twenty-five years after the Code Red worm crashed through the internet, Marc Maiffret, one of the vulnerability researchers who analyzed the outbreak, reflects on its legacy and the lessons it holds for today's security landscape. Code Red demonstrated how a single worm exploiting a buffer overflow in Microsoft IIS could spread globally within hours, causing billions in damage and foreshadowing the automated, self-propagating attacks that dominate modern threat landscapes. Maiffret draws parallels between the worm era's race to patch before infection and today's challenges with AI-powered attacks, supply chain vulnerabilities, and the ever-shrinking window between disclosure and exploitation.