Batesville School Computers Working Fine After Removing Virus Infection

A virus that infected the computer systems of the Batesville School District (Arkansas, USA) has been overcome after a concerted struggle to eliminate it.

At a meeting of the school's board, Debbie Miller, Curriculum and Instruction Director, highlighted the seriousness of the attack. He said that even officials from the state Department of Education had to come and stay at the school for seven days to make sure that everything was working fine, as reported by KAIT8 on January 22, 2009.

However, no one knows how the infection spread across the network. Apparently, the virus first infected the computer at Superintendent Ted Hall. But, as per officials, there are no clues as to what triggered the worm or where it came from. Security experts said that the virus could have spread on account of a hacker inserting a USB key or users clicking on a Trojan or a infected file that triggered other viruses. In addition, the infection spread so widely that it became necessary to scan each and every PC across the district.

However, the school is making sure that this kind of attack should not happen in future. The administration of the school stated that it would be setting stronger passwords, as PC viruses are frequently spread via e-mail attachments. A majority of help websites advises e-mail users not to open unfamiliar attachments, although their source is known.

Meanwhile, technicians of the school board asked teachers and other staff not to use the computer networks to stop the spreading of the virus. Moreover, the virus, which continuously multiplies on a system, could infiltrate it during daily use.

Furthermore, certain things that a daily user could do, according to experts' suggestions, is to ensure he has appropriate virus and spyware protection installed as well as up-to-date them regulalry.

Also, virus attacks against schools are becoming more common nowadays. A warning that the Federal Trade Commission issued to PC users asked them to be wary of fake virus scanning applications along with pop-ups that infect the system with viruses rather than removing the malware.

» SPAMfighter News - 2/7/2009