Stockholm, May 02: A new Internet worm is spreading worldwide and has probably already infected millions of computers, a Finnish anti-virus expert has told news agencies. The Sasser worm can infect any computer that is switched on and connected to an internet service provider, and unliked most other worms or viruses is not spread by email, said Mikko Hyppoenen, head of anti-virus research at the Finnish Internet security firm F-Secure yesterday.

"This is one of few worms that spreads automatically. It is enough for your PC to be on," he told news agencies in a telephone interview from Helsinki.
The worm typically shuts down the computer then automatically re-boots it, repeating the procedure several times. Hyppoenen said computers behind a firewall should be spared from the attack.

He stressed that the worm, while inconvenient, was otherwise harmless and other experts said it was relatively simple to destroy.

"This worm does not have any criminal intentions, unlike the Bagle and Sobig viruses we saw earlier (this year) which took control of computers by opening back doors to send spam. Sasser doesn't do anything," he said.


"The blaster virus in august 2003 infected millions of computers... This time there could possibly be more computers infected," Hyppoenen added, however.


Hyppoenen said experts did not yet know who was behind the attack but suspected that it was teenage hackers out to have some fun.

Bureau Report