Worm infects 30% of China's e-mail users
An Internet worm that turns computers into spam machines has infected 30% of all e-mail users in China, the country's top Web security firm said on Friday.
More than 20 million users opened and passed along the Sobig.F virus -- called the fastest spreading Web worm ever -- to domestic and regional networks, Hao Ting, spokesperson for Beijing Rising Technology Shareholding, told Reuters.
"We have not seen anything spread so fast," she said by telephone. "It could get worse because there is very limited awareness of viruses and preventive measures."
Hao said the 30% figure was based on a study of the firm's one million regular customers and queries at its hotline.
The number could not be independently confirmed by the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Centre, based in the northern city of Tianjin, which said it had not conducted its own survey.
Although Sobig.F does not shut down or paralyse infected computers, it can crash servers or slow down Windows operations. Messages can be identified by subject lines that say "Thank you", "Movies", "Details" or "Applications".
