Douglas
02-03-2006, 06:00 PM
Source: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8FHLRVO0.htm?campaign_id=apn_tech_down&chan=tc
FEB. 3 8:43 A.M. ET A file-destroying computer worm set to activate Friday caused relatively little damage during the business day in Asia and Europe, security experts said.
Hundreds of thousands of computers were believed to be infected, but many companies and individuals had time to clean up their machines this week after security vendors and media outlets warned of the "Kama Sutra" worm.
"It's been pretty quiet," said Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer for Finnish security company F-Secure Corp. "We know the word is out there."
Experts had warned earlier that the worm, also known as "CME-24," "BlackWorm," or "Mywife.E," could corrupt documents using the most common file types, including ".doc," ".pdf," and ".zip."
Security vendors Trend Micro Inc. and CA Inc. both assessed the overall risk and distribution as low. The worm wasn't expected to spread any more quickly Friday. Rather, Friday was the first trigger date for the file-destroying code.
"It's well past the deadline but we haven't confirmed any cases of the Kama Sutra in Japan, which suggests we're not looking at a major outbreak," said Itsuro Nishimoto, an executive at Tokyo-based computer security company LAC Corp.
A manager at Hong Kong's official coordination center for computer emergencies said he had not received any reports or calls for help from those infected by the worm.
"It began spreading late last month but we haven't received any calls in the past two weeks," Roy Ko said. "We don't expect to receive any today, either."
Ajit Pillai, India's manager for U.S. security firm Watchguard Technologies Inc., said about 10 percent of his customers in the country had the worm, but they "followed the remedies and managed to avoid any problem."
"We didn't have to do any firefighting today," Pillai said.
Unlike other worms generally designed to help spammers and hackers carry out attacks, Kama Sutra could inflict more damage because it sets out to destroy documents.
"This virus is nowhere near as widespread as some of the (recent virus) cases," Hypponen said. "The reason it's talked about is because it's more destructive."
He said damage is high among those hit, but many businesses should already be protected by antivirus software.
Well, that's a relief, maybe it won't be so bad here :D
FEB. 3 8:43 A.M. ET A file-destroying computer worm set to activate Friday caused relatively little damage during the business day in Asia and Europe, security experts said.
Hundreds of thousands of computers were believed to be infected, but many companies and individuals had time to clean up their machines this week after security vendors and media outlets warned of the "Kama Sutra" worm.
"It's been pretty quiet," said Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer for Finnish security company F-Secure Corp. "We know the word is out there."
Experts had warned earlier that the worm, also known as "CME-24," "BlackWorm," or "Mywife.E," could corrupt documents using the most common file types, including ".doc," ".pdf," and ".zip."
Security vendors Trend Micro Inc. and CA Inc. both assessed the overall risk and distribution as low. The worm wasn't expected to spread any more quickly Friday. Rather, Friday was the first trigger date for the file-destroying code.
"It's well past the deadline but we haven't confirmed any cases of the Kama Sutra in Japan, which suggests we're not looking at a major outbreak," said Itsuro Nishimoto, an executive at Tokyo-based computer security company LAC Corp.
A manager at Hong Kong's official coordination center for computer emergencies said he had not received any reports or calls for help from those infected by the worm.
"It began spreading late last month but we haven't received any calls in the past two weeks," Roy Ko said. "We don't expect to receive any today, either."
Ajit Pillai, India's manager for U.S. security firm Watchguard Technologies Inc., said about 10 percent of his customers in the country had the worm, but they "followed the remedies and managed to avoid any problem."
"We didn't have to do any firefighting today," Pillai said.
Unlike other worms generally designed to help spammers and hackers carry out attacks, Kama Sutra could inflict more damage because it sets out to destroy documents.
"This virus is nowhere near as widespread as some of the (recent virus) cases," Hypponen said. "The reason it's talked about is because it's more destructive."
He said damage is high among those hit, but many businesses should already be protected by antivirus software.
Well, that's a relief, maybe it won't be so bad here :D