NY Times Shuts Down HQ Computers, Possible SoBig Victim

Wall Street Journal ^ | 8-22-3 | Matthew Rose

[dogbyte12]

NEW YORK -- New York Times Co. (NYT) says it has shut down computer systems at its Manhattan headquarters, potentially making the newspaper publisher a high-profile victim of computer viruses that are ravaging corporate networks across the U.S.

Toby Usnik, a Times spokesman, said he didn't know the cause of the problem, which hit the company at around noon EDT Friday. Employees, including the paper's reporters and editors, were instructed within an hour to turn off their PCs.

Mr. Usnik said the publisher plans to publish a paper tomorrow, possibly using backup systems.

A number of rogue computer programs have been clogging computer networks, disrupting commercial infrastructure. They include a variant of the Blaster worm that first surfaced last week and a new strain of a virus called Sobig.

In one of the most serious incidents, CSX Corp. (CSX), the third-largest railroad company in North America, said it temporarily stopped service Wednesday. The day before, some passengers of Air Canada encountered delays because a "worm" program affected the airline's reservation system.

[Cathryn Crawford]

Awww...that's too bad!

[CJ Wolf]

Must be that VRWC group doing this.

[Lil'freeper]

NY Times shuts down...

no big loss.

[I still care]

Is this the 3pm deadline we heard about?

[Diogenesis]

They shut down because the virus "make them speak truth"

..................... [ /sarcasm ]

[BurbankKarl]

http://www.internettrafficreport.com/main.htm

[dogbyte12]

They shut down at noon... 3 hours earlier, and told everybody basically to back away from their PC's and turn them off. Looks like their entire system is infected...big time.

[Constitution Day]

Not to worry!
I'm sure they have a backup bull$h!t-generator there.

[My Favorite Headache]

This has to be terrorism...and no I am not joking.

[Dirk McQuickly]

A lot of people are getting a chuckle out of the NYT getting accosted by this virus, but that's like whistling past the graveyard in this environment. It seems that someone is f'ing with us big time, and it's gradually getting worse...

[thoughtomator]

Really, all the evidence points to email spammers as the source rather than terrorists. 'Cui bono?'

[Dirk McQuickly]

po-tay-to, po-tah-to

[turbocat]

10 minutes ago the US had 2 routers out and now it is SIX.

[Snowy]

My email is really slow. I sent something to myself and haven't received it back yet (going on 15 minutes). Where did you get your info?

[Dog]

Agree with you both.

[thoughtomator]

Don't be so alarmist. Terrorists aren't the only ones who would cause general misery for their own gain. Take telemarketers, for instance.

[Dog]

Click on the link in post 7......then click on US and that will show you the routers..

[hispanarepublicana]

A question that few, if anyone, is asking: 

"Why is this still spreading?  After all the publicity, do you have to be a complete idiot to not know that you shouldn't open a *.pif, *.exe, or *.scr attachment?"

[Snowy]

Thank you. Good Doggie. :)