Security news
Security news3 May 2004
Sasser worm disrupts Taiwan's national post office, Sophos comments
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| The vulnerability exploited by the Sasser worm has been described by Microsoft as critical |
Media reports from Taipei have confirmed that a third of the offices of Taiwan's state-run post office have had their operations seriously affected by the Sasser internet worm.
Some 1600 workstations, 300 of them in the greater Taipei area, were hit by the virus today. According to an official the company had to result to manual processes as their computer systems were paralysed.
Local television coverage showed customers queuing in long lines at many of the post offices, as service slowed down.
"Sasser has hit unprotected computers hard and fast," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "This internet attack is a timely reminder for all businesses and computer users to ensure their computers are properly secured and protected."
The security vulnerability exploited by the Sasser worm was first patched by Microsoft on 13 April 2004 in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-011.
Sophos recommends that every IT manager responsible for security should consider subscribing to vulnerability mailing lists such as that operated by Microsoft at www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/notify.mspx .
Home users of Microsoft Windows can visit windowsupdate.microsoft.com to have their systems scanned for critical Microsoft security vulnerabilities.
