"Microsoft and the National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) today urged all users of Microsoft's IIS 4.0 and 5.0 to install a security patch to protect against Code Red. The worm, currently in a dormant phase, will re-awaken August 1, 2001 at 0:00 GMT (4:00 PM PDT, July 31), and is thought to be more dangerous the second time around. Code Red spreads by scanning the Internet for vulnerable IIS systems, and it is this scanning activity which has the potential to degrade service across the entire Internet. A patch issued by Microsoft removes the IIS scanning vulnerability in Windows NT and 2000. Users of Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me are not affected by the Code Red worm."