Submitted by: kirkland on Monday August 25th, 2003 at 11:29 AM EST

The fast-spreading Sobig.F e-mail virus slowed on Sunday and failed for a second time to launch a remote data attack using thousands of infected personal computers, computer security experts said.

Sobig.F, which first emerged on Aug. 18, was programmed by an unknown creator to unleash a data attack at noon PDT on Sunday.

But with the trigger -- a computer program unwittingly installed on 20 poorly defended computers mostly in the United States and Canada -- deactivated on Friday, Sunday's attempt was a non-event, according to reports from technology security company Symantec Corp. and Craig Schmugar, virus research engineer at rival Network Associates Inc. .

An initial automated barrage planned for Friday was averted after government and security industry experts raced to diffuse the digital trigger that could have taken control of more than 100,000 infected computers and possibly crippled the Internet.

The number of infected computers worldwide fell dramatically from Saturday to Sunday, declining by one-third in the 24-hour period to 98,205 from 145,264, according to a virus map from anti-virus software maker Trend Micro.

» Read more @ Reuters