Computer worm has worldwide effects

Victims included large companies in Britain and the United States.
NEW YORK (AP) -- A pesky computer worm snarled hundreds of thousands of machines worldwide Monday in the latest viruslike outbreak to take advantage of a known flaw with the Windows operating system.
Because the new worm, dubbed "Sasser," does not require users to click on an e-mail attachment to activate, it spreads more rapidly than most viruses. It was discovered late Friday and spread as employees returned to work and booted their machines.
The worm caused some computers to continually crash and reboot, apparently the result of bad programming by the virus writer rather than intent, security experts said. Sasser does not cause any permanent damage to files or machines, they added.
Large companies
Among victims were large companies in Germany, Britain and the United States that are clients of Network Associates Inc., said Vincent Gullotto, a vice president at the company's anti-virus research lab. He would not name the companies.
A large television network in Europe also was hit, two security sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity and refusing to elaborate. Finland's third largest bank, Sampo, closed 120 of its offices for a few hours as a precaution Monday while technicians updated anti-virus programs.
Delta connection?
Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines spokeswoman Peggy Estes refused to say Monday whether weekend computer troubles that grounded flights to and from Atlanta for about 6 1/2 hours were related to Sasser.
Keynote Systems Inc., which tracks Internet performance, reported no traffic degradation, but security experts say some users could experience slowdowns if machines running Web sites or key Internet gateways are infected.
Although Microsoft Corp. announced three weeks ago the flaw that Sasser exploits -- it's a Windows function called Local Security Authority Subsystem Service -- many computer owners had yet to apply the software fix the company had released.
Once Sasser infects a computer, it automatically scans the Internet for other computers with the flaw and sends a copy of itself there.
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.