Asia under attack: Nimda on a rampage, hits 25 Indian cos

Our eFE Bureau & Reuters

The Nimda computer virus spread at dizzying speed through parts of Asia on Thursday for a second day, but experts said the worldwide outbreak may be close to peaking for the powerful server machines that drive the Web.

The second day of the Nimda virus attack left some more companies gasping for breath in India. According to the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), about 25 IT companies have reported being hit by the deadly virus.

“This is the fastest spreading virus and is faster than even Code Red. This virus has impacted more companies worldwide as compared to any other virus which attacked before. We received almost 40 calls from Indian corporates,” Network Associates India, Country Manager, Vishwajeet Deshmukh said.

Network Associates, an Internet security solutions provider received almost 30 to 40 calls at its customer support center from corporates since yesterday complaining about the attack.

“Nimda hit our system last evening and we had to shut the system for almost 3 hours,” HCL Perot Limited (HPL) Head-Support Services General (Retd) SK Vij said.

However, HPL has now managed to recover from the attack.
“Last evening, our systems crashed but everything is fine today. This is primarily due to ‘Trend’ solutions and our vigilant staff,” Gen Vij said.

Hardware apex body, Manufacturers’ Association of Information Technology (MAIT) also felt the brunt of the attack as it had to shut its network for almost six hours.

“We thought we were safe but that was only until this morning, when finally we were hit by Nimda. It did not allow us to do anything and we could not use the Outlook Express. Eventually we had to shut down our entire system,” MAIT executive officer Amit Chadha said.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s Information and Communication Ministry said thenumber of infections was growing exponentially as small computer users were slow to take precautions.

The self-replicating bug, which scans networks for uninfectedcomputers, slows the performance of the Internet and E-mail even though it does not erase files or damage systems.

The attack could prove to be more widespread and damaging than the Code Red infections of July and August, which caused an estimated US$2.6 billion in damage, because Nimda appears to have been designed to spread quickly among PCs connected to a single network and not just servers, security experts said.

The Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team (HKCERT) said it had received more than 60 reports of virus attacks since Wednesday morning.

It could be months before the virus was completely eradicated, the government-sponsored organisation said.

Internet security firm Trend Micro Inc said 10 more clientshad reported their systems were infected, bringing the number to more than 40 since since Wednesday.But the firm estimated as many as 1,000 companies in the territory have been infected.

Trend Micro said the virus would cost Hong Kong around $3.85 million per day in lost productivity and that it was spreading five times faster than the Code Red virus which hit in July and August.“The number of companies that call in is just the tip of the iceberg. Behind those cases are many other companies that have been infected who either don’t know it or haven’t reported it,” said a company spokesman.