Worm prompts temporary shutdown of Reuters Messaging

The worm, known as W32/Kelvir-Re, was not designed specifically to target users of Reuters Messaging.

Reuters Group Plc temporarily shut down a privately controlled instant messaging service on Thursday after a computer worm affected some of the network's users.

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The worm, which targets Microsoft Corp's instant messaging software, was first detected on the Reuters network early on Thursday, and the company suspended the service five hours later, a Reuters spokesman said.

"We're expecting to get the service back up within the next day," said Reuters spokesman Steve Naru.

The worm, known as W32/Kelvir-Re, was not designed specifically to target users of Reuters Messaging, an instant messaging service based on Microsoft's messenger technology, the company and a technology analyst said.

Reuters offers the messaging service to financial clients along with its data and news services. There are more than 60,000 active users.

Microsoft said it was working with Reuters to resolve the issue.