Thousands Could Lose Internet
Friday, July 6th, 2012 -- 8:23 AM
-The warnings about the Internet problem have been splashed across Facebook and Google.Internet service providers have sent notices, and the FBI set up a special website.
But tens of thousands of Americans may still lose their Internet service Monday unless they do a quick check of their computers for malware that could have taken over their machines more than a year ago.
The problem began when international hackers ran an online advertising scam to take control of more than 570,000 infected computers around the world.
When the FBI went in to take down the hackers late last year, agents realized that if they turned off the malicious servers being used to control the computers, all the victims would lose their Internet service.
In a highly unusual move, the FBI set up a safety net. They brought in a private company to install two clean Internet servers to take over for the malicious servers so that people would not suddenly lose their Internet.
But that temporary system will be shut down at 12:01am Monday, July 9.
Most victims don't even know their computers have been infected, although the malicious software probably has slowed their Web surfing and disabled their antivirus software, making their machines more vulnerable to other problems.
To check whether a computer is infected, users can visit a website run by the group brought in by the FBI: http://www.dcwg.org
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.