Computer virus causes a major regional e-mail failure

Monday, November 3, 2003

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands: A serious e-mail virus led to the Cable & Wireless regional e-mail server in Barbados shutting down for 30 hours last week, affecting customers in Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos, and St Lucia.

The virus caused severe damage to the computer hardware system in Barbados, forcing Cable & Wireless technicians to work around the clock establishing new local e-mail and authentication platforms.

On Friday, Cable & Wireless had a message on its website informing customers that e-mail services had been restored, but many customers were still experiencing difficulties into the weekend because of password problems.

It was small businesses and individuals who bore the brunt of the crisis, as larger organisations typically receive e-mail through their own domains.

Cable & Wireless has assured customers that it was working to recover messages that would have been delivered, but not downloaded prior to the failure. 

A spokesperson said: "We have queued messages delivered post failure and as of 1:45 am (on Friday), those messages were delivered to the respective customers. We will continue to work to salvage the damaged message store and on success will deliver those messages as they become available."

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