Virus Shutdown Computers of Mounds View School District

Authorities at Mounds View School District of Minnesota, USA, are fighting to clean a computer virus that stopped the functioning of system at the school.

Nick Temali, Director of Community Education and Technology, Mound View School District, said that the virus infiltrates a system and hits on executables. Therefore, on starting a computer, it is the executables that run all the operations, as reported by msnbc on February 19, 2009.

Temali's observation suggests that when a user types something on the computer, an executable instructs the PC about the next action, as a result the virus causes the system to shut down, making it non-functional.

Although the incident has not deleted any data, the school district is experiencing problems without the computers, since it is forced to handle all work starting from maintaining grade records to determining attendance manually. The virus has also prevented teachers to receive e-mails as well as parents from checking their wards' home assignments online.

Meanwhile, as the school can't work over the Net, officials stated that residents of Mounds View District who wished to contact school authorities could dial 651-621-6000 or go to www.moundsviewschool.org for more phone numbers.

As per reports coming in, the district's hard drives are being erased and operating software and other applications have been reinstalled on all computers. A team of 12 persons has been formed to carry out the job and work is going on for as long as 15 hours everyday to resolve the problems caused by the virus.

Symantec Corp., an antivirus company, reports that the nasty virus came in notice on February 4, 2009 and it impacts computers running Microsoft Windows OS.

It is further learnt that the computer troubles at Mounds View were not the only incident. Similar problems affected other businesses and schools as well.

Further, the virus has infected a total of 1,000 computers worldwide. Additionally, it may download more files. But Symantec said the extent of damage on the infected PCs is rated "medium", as reported by betterantivirus in the 2nd week of February 2009.

The School District, meanwhile, has assured worried students and parents of a speedy solution.

Related article: Virus Infects Through USB Drives

» SPAMfighter News - 3/5/2009