The ticket sales system of the Guangzhou-Hong Kong through-train was suspended for a few hours on Thursday due to attacks by the computer virus "Blaster Worm", reports Information Times.

Passengers were allowed to buy tickets on board the trains as a temporary measure.

Although ticket outlets remained open, they were not able to produce a ticket for every purchase request.

And the system operated much more slowly than usual before repairs were completed at 5 pm.

Sales of other railway tickets in Guangzhou, which use different computer systems, were not affected, said Li, head of the computer technology department at the Guangzhou Eastern Railway Station.

The Blaster Worm virus, which targeted Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, NT and Server 2003, crippled thousands of computer networks on the mainland.

Thus far, Guangzhou's airline and metro ticketing systems have been spared. But infections were reported on provincial government networks.

Close