Phastworm

Phastworm is an ongoing cyber attack impacting CCTV Online. It first began on January 27, 2021 after one of the company's computers was unusually very slow and had numerous programs installed onto it. Several CCTV Online employees have speculated it to be the return of Caltrose25V5, though CCTV Online's CEO Ezekiel Palmer says that the exact cause is uncertain. Two employees were fired on February 1, 2021 after having been caught lying in regards to the attack.

The company shut down it's games and website as a result of the attack. CCTV Online had already been impacted by Caltrose25V5 in April 2020, and is still going through the Caltrose25V5 Recession. The two games were temporarily shut down for safety measures and strict monitoring will be imposed.

Due to strict measures put in place in 2020 due to Caltrose25V5, and to a lesser extent Deltahorse35V5 from 2003 - 2006 and Tetrahorse04V1 from 2007 to 2009, the virus's ability to attack the ATBW 11 is hindered to a significant rate, though as it is a worm and not a trojan horse, it is able to easily bypass these, though the malware itself can be removed.

History
The earliest evidence of the virus goes back to January 27, 2021 when a computer in CCTV Online's staff department started to lag miserably as well as becoming very slow to the point that they stopped working properly. Around 12:50 AM on January 29, 2021, another computer began to experience the same problems and was unplugged temporarily. One of the company's staff members at the time informed that it may be the return of the Caltrose25V5 trojan horse even though it was already dismantled and contained on May 3, 2020.

On February 1, 2021, two staff members at CCTV Online were fired and their accounts were banned indefinitely by CCTV Online after they were caught lying about the attack in that it was Caltrose25V5 when it wasn't. The company's CEO Ezekiel Palmer had warned the two employees about lying and tampering with evidence and that they were told not to touch the computers.

On February 4, 2021, the virus is said to be a worm, given the fact that it was spreading onto the computers without opening any prior programs. That same time, it was installed onto a community server in California City Defense, which caused the company to shut down all of it's online games to prevent further incidents.

On February 14, 2021, the virus was indeed confirmed to be a worm and most of CCTV Online's computers were disconnected to stop the spread of the worm. The only computers that employees are allowed access to are those connected to the company's spare VPN server, which includes the CEO's laptop.

On February 18, 2021, the virus was detected in a computer from Watercolor Studios. As a result, the entire server of computers was unplugged for two weeks and the contact form was disabled.

On February 20, 2021, the worm was identified as Phastworm.

On March 1, 2021, Phastworm was detected in computers from Wedgehead Studios, Calligraphy Studios, Signature Studios, and Elephant Studios, which forced them to shut down their computers. On March 4, 2021, it was detected in computers from Merrill Studios, Ramworks Software, Rose Gold Studios, and Pagoda Studios, and one computer at CCTV Productions on the following day.

On March 8, 2021, Phastworm was deemed a threat to ATBW Blog, which could hinder the 2021 ATBW Blog Race in June of this year. It was detected in computers from Lancerware and Martha Woods Entertainment. Most of these companies have already closed their PBLOG communities and their ATBW Blog online games temporarily to hinder it more.

The phastworm virus ended on March 23, 2021.