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| The virus incident caused the Russian Stock
Exchange to be suspended. |
Experts at SophosLabs™, Sophos's global
network of virus, spyware and spam analysis centers, have reminded
organizations of the threat posed by malware as news breaks that
the main Russian stock exchange was suspended because of a computer
virus.
The virus, which has not been named, is said to have hit late on
2 February, infecting an internet-connected computer and generating
a large amount of outgoing email traffic. Legitimate incoming and
outcoming email was interrupted by the virus's activities.
"On February 2, 2006, a computer virus attack forced a
suspension of trading on the RTS FORTS futures market, classic
market and the stock exchange," the Russian Trading System stock
exchange said in a statement.
"While all the world was in a frenzy over the Nyxem damp squib,
this attack infiltrated the RTS and could have potentially given
hackers access to their systems," said Graham Cluley, senior
technology consultant for Sophos. "A virus which can disrupt a
stock exchange can have obvious financial consequences, as well as
harm the important credibility of an institution in the public's
eye, and this should act as a wake-up call for any business which
is not taking the virus threat seriously."
Trading has now resumed at the stock exchange, and experts claim
that no data at the exchange has been stolen.
Sophos recommends companies protect their email with a consolidated solution to thwart the virus, spyware
and spam threats as well as secure their desktop and servers with
automatically updated anti-virus protection.
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.