Sasser worm spreading quickly, problem seen peaking Monday

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2004

STOCKHOLM (AFP) — A new Internet worm that attacks computers with certain Microsoft operating systems by shutting them down was spreading rapidly and was expected to culminate Monday when people return to work, experts said.

"The problem seems to be getting worse," Mikko Hyppoenen, an anti-virus expert at Finnish internet security firm F-Secure, told AFP on Sunday from Helsinki, adding that millions of computers worldwide may have been affected by the Sasser worm.

"We don't know how big this is going to be (but) we expect things to get much worse on Monday when people bring their laptops in to the office after the weekend," he said.

Since laptops are not protected by company firewall systems if used on another server than the company's, they would run the...