A global computer virus has infected university computers,
causing significant disruption to the university network. IT departments in various colleges were fighting the Internet
worm, Sasser, which was discovered on Friday night. The situation
was complicated when emails offering a solution to the worm were
circulated. It contained the Netsky virus instead. The scale of the problems caused by the worm in some colleges
was highlighted by John Veness, Computer Officer at Magdalen
College, who told Cherwell, “I’m fighting this virus at
the moment. I haven’t got time to talk to a newspaper.”
Magdalen College security was affected, too, as the broken
connections meant that Bodleian cards, used for entering student
accommodation, failed to open the security doors. Emergency door
release alarms had to be broken to allow students back into their
rooms. “It’s made life very difficult”, admitted
Zain Alatas, a first year student at Magdalen. Other colleges seemed to have avoided widespread infection, or
completely eluded the virus. Merton College said that only a few
students’ machines had been infected and they had been
“dealt with promptly”. At 12.30pm there was an “emergency reboot” of the
Bodleian router by OUCS. An email sent to colleges and
departments on the affected networks stated that this was
necessary because of “severe memory fragmentation.”ARCHIVE: 1st week TT 2004
Oxford fights killer internet virus
