ARE YOU READY FOR MONDAY'S MALWARE?
The Osgood File. This is Charles Osgood.
This coming Monday, hundreds of thousands of people around the world - some 64,000 here in the United States, along with 50 major corporations here - may find themselves suddenly cut off from the internet, because of a scam by a ring of hackers in Estonia - which redirected hundreds of thousands of computers to different websites, racking up millions of dollars in illegal fees.
When the FBI busted them last year, it couldn't just shut them down, says our CBS News colleague Teresa Garcia.
VO - Teresa Garcia
"The challenge for the FBI was if they shut down the hackers' servers, they'd wipe out the internet connection for all the victims." (:07)
So, they set up a temporary system to take control of the infected computers.
VO - Teresa Garcia
"That temporary system is shutting down on Monday - which means about 64,000 computers in the U.S. will be cut off." (:08)
There's a way you can find out if your computer is infected. We'll tell you about that after this...
((( BREAK )))
The virus that could knock you off the internet on Monday is malicious software - malware, for short - which can affect both Macs and PCs.
There's a way to find out whether you're one the estimated 64,000 Americans or 50 American corporations whose computers are infected.
Tell us about that, Teresa Garcia...
VO - Teresa Garcia
"The FBI is directing users to a special website to see if they're infected: www.dcwg.org. The site will check for the virus - and tell you how to fix it." (:13)
Unfortunately, says our CBS News and CNET technology analyst Larry Magid.
SOT - Larry Magid, technology analyst for CBS News and CNET
"The bad news is that if you're still infected with this virus as of Monday morning, you're not going to have internet access." (:06)
And what's the good news?
SOT - Larry Magid
"The good news is that most people aren't infected. You could have this malicious software on your computer and not know it - but there are scanning tools available that can detect it, as well as tools that can remove it." (:11)
The address for that, once again, is: www.dcwg.org.
The Osgood File. This is Charles Osgood on the CBS Radio Network. |
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