Meaner Code Red worm appears in Asia<\/p>\n
BEIJING (Reuters): A meaner version of the Code Red Internet
\nworm has made its first appearance in Asia, infesting dozens of
\ncomputers in China, security experts said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
South Korea was trying to determine whether it was this
\npernicious worm which had attacked government computers and Hong
\nKong also reported at least one confirmed infection.<\/p>\n
China's Ministry of Public Security issued a national alert to
\npolice urging swift action to prevent the spread of the Code Red
\nII worm, which can rig computers to attack others as well as
\nexpose information, such as credit card numbers, they store.<\/p>\n
\"We've discovered that computer systems at some work units and
\ngovernment departments have been infected with this virus,
\ndisturbing normal working conditions,\" said the statement seen by
\nReuters.<\/p>\n
\"The situation is beginning to move more quickly and spread
\nmore widely this week,\" said a technical support manager at
\nBeijing Rising Technology Corp, a virus protection company.<\/p>\n
South Korea reported its first Code Red outbreak as servers at
\na cluster of government offices were hit, sparking a shutdown of
\nsome systems to prevent it spreading further.<\/p>\n
The computer worm froze a computer network linking government
\noffices in Taejon, about 140 km (85 miles) south of Seoul, the
\nMinistry of Government Administration and Home Affairs said.<\/p>\n
It was not immediately clear whether it was the more
\npernicious variant, discovered on Saturday, of the Code Red worm
\nwhich first struck last month, a ministry official said.<\/p>\n
Offices of the Korea Forestry Service, Cultural Properties
\nAdministration and Industry Property Office were affected.<\/p>\n
The official said Internet links between the offices and
\ngovernment offices in Seoul were severed to try to prevent the
\nworm from spreading.<\/p>\n
In Hong Kong, a spokesman from the government-sponsored Hong
\nKong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center
\n(HKCERT) said it had received one report of \"Code Red II\"
\ninfection and three reports of attempts to sneak into computers.<\/p>\n
He declined to say whether any government department had been
\naffected.<\/p>\n
The worm began showing up on Chinese computers despite claims
\nlast week that Chinese-language versions of the vulnerable
\noperating systems were immune to the virus.<\/p>\n
Beijing Rising Technology knew of several dozen Chinese
\ncomputers which had been attacked by the Code Red II worm,
\nincluding computers at universities, government agencies and
\nlarge Chinese companies, the technical manager said.<\/p>\n
It infects computers running Microsoft's Windows NT or 2000
\noperating systems and its Internet Information Server Web
\nsoftware.<\/p>\n
Last week, some security experts said Chinese-language
\nversions of the Microsoft operating systems were immune to the
\nworm, but the Rising expert said it could infect computers using
\nChinese-language versions.<\/p>\n
Reports in Indian newspapers last week said the Code Red worm
\nhad been traced to a computer at the University of Foshan in
\nChina's southern province of Guangdong.<\/p>\n
But a laboratory technician who answered the phone at the
\nuniversity's computer department on Tuesday said he was surprised
\nto learn of the reports because the school had been on vacation
\nsince July 6 and was being refurbished.<\/p>\n
\"All the students are on vacation and we're under
\nconstruction. Even the electricity is down,\" said the technician,
\nwho gave his surname as Hu.<\/p>\n
A free software patch with instructions is available at
\nhttp:\/\/www.digitalisland.net\/codered\/. The Mercury Interactive
\nWeb is also offering free vulnerability scans for Code Red.<\/p>",
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