News

Netcraft: MDAC Vulnerability Affects Small Number of IIS Servers

Netcraft is trying to correct a misimpression surrounding Microsoft's two-week-old security bulletin involving Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC).

Netcraft is well known for its monthly updates on the number of Web servers running Apache versus Internet Information Services. A Bloomberg news article about the MDAC vulnerability, a problem Microsoft labeled "critical," noted that Netcraft's figures put about 4 million active IIS servers out there -- making the vulnerability appear quite widespread.

But Netcraft says that in its own security testing business, it finds that the percentage of sites using the affected part of MDAC, the Remote Data Services, is very small.

"Approximately 8 percent of Microsoft-IIS sites tested in 2001 had RDS open to the public; in 2002 this has fallen to around 5 percent," Netcraft notes.

RDS is not enabled by default in IIS 5. RDS was introduced and enabled by default with IIS 4, but Microsoft's security checklists and IIS lockdown tool encourage Web masters to disable it.

"Almost no Microsoft-IIS/5.0 sites we have tested were offering RDS and the proportion of Microsoft-IIS/4.0 sites offering RDS is fairly stable at around one in four," Netcraft officials say. The caveats, according to Netcraft, are that its customer sample is fairly small and that sample is weighted toward IIS 5 customers. "But we think that only a fairly small section of the Microsoft-IIS community is likely to use RDS, and that it is rarely enabled on public sites."

Meanwhile, since October, Microsoft's IIS has enjoyed a slight gain in share among active Web sites, although the open source Apache Web server still dominates the market.

The November Netcraft numbers, released Monday, show IIS gained 0.53 points of share, climbing from 25.06 percent of active sites to 25.59 percent. In raw numbers, IIS sites went from about 4 million sites to nearly 4.25 million sites. Apache, meanwhile, stayed above 10 million active sites and runs nearly 65 percent of active sites, according to Netcraft.

About the Author

Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.

Featured

  • FTC Expands Microsoft Antitrust Investigation Under Trump Administration

    The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is pressing ahead with a broad investigation into Microsoft's business practices, an inquiry that began in the final weeks of the Biden administration.

  • An image of planes flying around a globe

    2025 Microsoft Conference Calendar: For Partners, IT Pros and Developers

    Here's your guide to all the IT training sessions, partner meet-ups and annual Microsoft conferences you won't want to miss.

  • Microsoft to Shut Down Skype Services

    Microsoft will discontinue its Skype telecommunications and video calling services on May 5, 2025, marking the end of the platform's decades-long run.

  • Big Blue To Acquire Datastax in Enterprise AI Play

    In a bid to bolster its enterprise-aimed AI capabilities, IBM is planning to acquire Datastax, a leading AI and data solutions provider, for an undisclosed amount.