Computer security teams in banks are on red alert as a dangerous new worm spreads across the Internet, hitting large corporations and disrupting operations at a number of financial services firms worldwide.
Goldman Sachs, Sampo and Westpac are among the big-name banking groups to have been hit by the so-called Sasser worm, which exploits holes in Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP causing computers to shut down.
Sasser has spread rapidly around the globe since it was first detected late on Friday. The worm is not distributed by e-mail, but rather infects computers connected to the Internet. Once inside a corporate network the rogue software replicates very quickly.
The program is understood to have disrupted Goldman Sachs trading systems across Asia and the US and temporarily closed down Finnish bank Sampo. In Australia, Westpac Bank says some of it branches have resorted to pen and paper records.
The outbreak is expected to peak today and tomorrow as European businesses return from the long holiday weekend.
Microsoft released a patch for the vulnerability last week, but the application of individual machines fixes across a large corporate network can be a labour-intensive, time-consuming task.