Traffic on the many parts of the Internet slowed dramatically for hours early Saturday, the apparent effects of a fast-spreading, virus-like infection that overwhelmed the world's digital pipelines and interfered with Web browsing and delivery of e-mail.
Sites monitoring the health of the Internet reported significant slowdowns globally. Experts said the electronic attack bore remarkable similarities to the Code Red virus during the summer of 2001 which also ground traffic to a halt on much of the Internet.
The attack sought to take advantage of a software flaw discovered by researchers in July 2002 that permits hackers to seize control of corporate database servers. Microsoft deemed the problem ''critical'' and offered a free repairing patch, but it was impossible to know how many computer administrators applied the fix.
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Source: www.canada.com