Security experts are analyzing the worm to determine where Windows worm Sasser might hit next.
“‘We don’t know yet, for example, if it attacks machines running on Windows XP Embedded, which runs ATM machines and cash registers. That would be disastrous for banks and retailers,’ said Raimund Genes, European president of security software firm Trend Micro,” Bernhard Warner reports for Reuters.
“In the space of three days, four variants have emerged, each capable of causing machines that run on Microsoft’s Windows operating systems XP, NT and 2000 to reboot without warning and knocking out some computer reservation systems. Victims include Goldman Sachs, Australia’s Westpac Bank and Finnish financial company Sampo. It has also hit about 300,000 computers at Germany’s Deutsche Post,” Warner reports.
“Staff were temporarily unable to issue cash over the counter as a result, German media reported, while a European Commission spokesman said Sasser hit 1,200 PCs Monday. ‘We had big problems yesterday,’ the EC spokesman said,” Warner reports. Full article here.
BBC News reports, “Taiwan’s national post office said 1,600 of its machines were hit by the virus which forced more than 400 of its 1200 branch offices to revert to pen and paper. The disruption left customers queuing in long lines at many of the company’s offices, according to television reports. Two Hong Kong government departments and some hospitals on the island were hit by the virus. In Australia Railcorp trains were halted apparently because a virus disrupted the radio systems and stopped drivers talking to signalmen. Also in Australia Westpac Bank staff were forced to use manual methods to record transactions as the virus made computers unusable. Two other banks reported infections. Finnish bancassurer Sampo said it had temporarily closed all its 130 branch offices as a precaution against Sasser. US airline Delta would not comment on reports that the virus caused disruption to its schedule.”
MacDailyNews Take: Computers running Apple’s Mac OS X are not affected by the Sasser worm. More information about how easy it is to add a Mac OS X machine to your computing arsenal here.
