Virus Slows Global Internet Traffic

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, January 27, 2003

Virus Slows Global Internet Traffic

Worldwide Internet traffic suddenly slowed down dramatically for hours on Saturday, after a fast-spreading computer worm clogged pipelines of the global network, officials said.

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Worldwide Internet traffic suddenly slowed down dramatically for hours on Saturday, after a fast-spreading computer worm clogged pipelines of the global network, officials said.

Experts called it the most damaging attack on the Internet in 18 months as networks across Asia, Europe and America were effectively shut down.

Even though the worst of the disruptions appeared to have passed by Saturday afternoon, some network disruption was likely to continue until Monday when businesses return to work, experts said.

The explosive spread of the malicious program nearly cut off Internet providers in South Korea, disrupted automated bank teller machines in the United States and made online surfing, shopping and e-mail access difficult.

The exact origin of the attack remained a mystery, and some experts warned that more destructive variants of the worm could appear soon.

Known as "SQL Slammer," the malicious program targets a previously identified weakness in Microsoft Corp.'s software to shut down powerful server computers.

"It's very fast and very effective," said Alfred Huger, Senior Director of Engineering at Web security company Symantec Corp. in Cupertino, California.

The worm is a small program that quickly copies itself and sends rapid data requests in search of other server computers that manage computer networks.

Unlike an e-mail virus, the worm did not infect individual desktop computers, experts said. Instead, the brunt of the attack was felt in exceptionally slow download speeds and severe access to Web-based services such as online banking and shopping, they said.

The damage caused by the worm came from the way it overwhelmed networks by quickly cloning itself and spreading to other computer servers, experts said.

Source: agencies

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