Sasser worm causes disruptions

A new internet worm caused disruptions over the weekend but experts warned it may spread rapidly when businesses resume work today. The worm, named Sasser, began to spread on Saturday, and can spread by itself to any unprotected computer linked to the internet. It attacks through a flaw in recent versions of Microsoft's Windows - Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP - and causes the computer to shut down, then rebooting it, repeating the process several times. But it appears to do no lasting damage.

"The problem seems to be getting worse," Mikko Hyppoenen, an anti-virus expert at F-Secure said from Helsinki, adding that millions of computers worldwide may have been infected.

"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," Hyppoenen said.

Since laptops are not protected by company firewall systems if used on a server other than the company's, they run the risk of being infected and in turn infect the company's network when used in the office.

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