INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: VIRUS PARALYSES POST IN ITALY.

• Position: 'SQ Hell' - Brief Article

Postal services in Italy were paralysed on January 28 by a computer virus christened "SQ Hell", downloaded across the country and regarded as "the most serious attack ever" in the country, according to computer expert Fulvio Berghella. Italy's 14,000 post offices were affected by the virus and a certain number of on-line services such as banking operations were suspended as a preventative measure, according to the service's computer systems director Paolo Baldelli. Messages carrying the virus were simply titled "Hi". The alarm was sounded at 02H00 (01H00 GMT), but the messages arrived in their millions, blocking the postal service's computer network. A team of 80 technicians set to work on the problem and installed protection against further attacks by the virus. A large number of enterprises also...