A virulent computer worm that hobbled the Internet took its toll yesterday on stock trading in South Korea, the world's most wired country, but the rest of Asia escaped pretty much unscathed.
South Korea was hit hardest by the "SQL Slammer" worm, which forced firms worldwide to clean up computer systems after the virus spread through network connections, shutting Web servers at the weekend and slowing down the Internet.
"It is a serious problem that people's lives were disrupted," South Korean President Kim Dae-jung said in a statement, adding that he had instructed ministries to act to prevent further virus attacks.
The virus hit South Korea particularly hard because it has the world's highest penetration of broadband Internet services, which are up to 100 times faster than dial-up modem services.
The government gave no estimates for losses from the computer attack, but the association representing Korean insurers said it would have to pay out some 1 billion won (US$860,000).
"A special task force will be on high alert for a couple more weeks," Information and Communication Minister Lee Sang-chul said, adding that a lack of preparedness by companies compounded the problem.
Only 40 percent of South Korean firms have installed firewalls to protect their computers and servers from electronic attacks, Web security firms said.
The fallout was felt in some Asian stock markets, but not as hard as if the worm had struck on a working day.
Trading volume at the Korea Stock Exchange fell to a 13-month low as investors steered away from putting orders through Internet brokerages. Stocks of Web security firms soared and Internet service providers fell in Seoul and Tokyo.
The worm spread through network connections rather than via e-mail, the medium for previous high-profile virus attacks.
South Korean police said they believed the worm originated outside the country and had asked Interpol for help.
Some media reports said the virus came from Hong Kong, but local officials dismissed the suggestion.
"Some people are claiming it began in Hong Kong, but I don't have any evidence," said S.C. Leung, a senior consultant with Hong Kong's computer emergency response team.
Online stock trading accounts for more than two-thirds of market turnover in South Korea, where people regularly click a mouse to pay taxes, order pizza, buy clothes and even consult a doctor.
The worm exploited a weakness in Microsoft Corp's Windows 2000 SQL server database software, although it did not delete or otherwise touch data.
It crashed servers and congested traffic on the global network for a few hours, slowing downloads by as much as 50 percent throughout the region.
"The main problem was speed. Users couldn't access online services, creating a situation like a traffic jam, which is a really scary situation," said Wang Tong, manager of technology at Chinese Internet portal Sohu.com.
"We all worked overtime this weekend to help our users and clients regain service. Right now everything is mostly under control," Wang said.
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