The Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) Worm Wars of 2001 demonstrated that not all web servers are equally secure. The multiple rounds of rapidly spreading IIS worms dramatized a fact that had been troubling security professionals for quite some time: Compared to the other popular web server solutions, Microsoft's offerings generate a continuous stream of serious security problems. Moreover, unlike embarrassing but comparatively benign problems such as web site defacement, Microsoft's security vulnerabilities usually place the web site's visitor data at risk of theft and malicious exploitation.

During the last quarter of 2001 we saw an increase in eMail asking if there was any way to tell what server software any given web site was using. Presumably, these users were either curious, or they intended to use that information, if it were available, to help choose which sites they would prefer not to entrust with their confidential and personal data.

This information is readily available . . .
Although the make, model, and version of most web site's server software has always been available to client programs, it has never before been important or particularly interesting to most web site users. Recently, for at least some users, this appears to have changed. Since I have also sometimes wondered about the security and server software used by "off the beaten path" web sites, I decided to whip up "ID Serve", a simple, free, small (26 kbytes), and fast, general purpose Internet server identification utility.