RIYADH, 11 August — The Code Red virus that hit the Internet recently has caused losses of more than SR5 million to users in Saudi Arabia.
Informed sources told Arab News that systems at a government department and many major companies and banks in the Kingdom had been damaged.
The virus, which reappeared last week, has so far destroyed more than 7.5 million computers worldwide, including 1.5 million in the United States alone.
Dr. Badr Al-Badr, executive director of the International Telecom and Internet Company, told Arab News that the damages caused by the virus in the Kingdom amounts to at least SR5 million, “if we calculate the time wasted in halting operations and reparation of damages.”
Dr. Eyas S. Al-Hajery, head of the information security center at the Internet services unit of King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology, said however that his department had not received any messages from Saudi firms reporting that the virus hit their systems.
Market sources told Arab News that the services offered by certain government agencies and private firms had in fact stopped after their systems were hit by the virus.
Meanwhile, a brand of Internet virus named Code Red II has so far damaged a few hundred Chinese computer systems and users and about 1,000 servers in the US.
