FBI warning about internet web bug
By: Adam Van Vreede
Updated: July 8, 2012
(WFRV) -- On Monday, hundreds of thousands of people around the world could be knocked off the internet because of a malicious computer virus. The FBI is advising consumers to check their computers to see if they're infected.
The FBI has been on the case since last year, when agents busted a ring of computer hackers in Estonia.
The scam infected hundreds of thousands of computers around the world, and controlled them through rogue servers.
The hackers would redirect people to different web sites and rack up millions of dollars in illegal fees.
The challenge for the FBI was if they shut down the hackers' servers, they'd wipe out the internet connection for all the victims.
So instead they set up alternate servers, which took control of the infected computers.
That temporary system is shutting down Monday, which means about 64,000 computers in the U.S. will be cut off.
It will check for the virus, and tell you how to fix it.
