Microsoft facing slammer lawsuit

A Korean civic rights group may take Microsoft to task for the carnage caused by the Slammer worm last month.

The People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD) is considering a class action suit against Microsoft for not doing its utmost to prevent the widespread devastation of the bug, the Korea Times reported.

The Slammer, also known as the Sapphire worm and SQLExp, exploits vulnerabilities in Microsoft SQL 2000 web servers and causes increased traffic to be exchanged between different servers.

This heightened data transfer crippled internet networks worldwide two weeks ago, with Korea bearing the brunt of the damage as Asia's most wired nation.

"Although Microsoft said it issued warnings about the worm through emails and other public notices, we do not believe the company performed its duty to the fullest, considering it had a list of all SQL Server users," a PSPD spokesperson said.

The group intends to base its case on a product liability law which holds the manufacturer responsible for physical and property damage inflicted by product flaws.

PSPD added it has garnered support for the lawsuit from more than 3,000 broadband subscribers in Korea.

When contacted, a Microsoft Asia-Pacific spokesperson said it could not comment on "what looks like speculation" at this stage.