kdown
July 25th, 2008, 10:35 AM
”Hallmark“ computer virus hits Ky. schools
By Cara Anthony
canthony@herald-leader.com
A computer virus disguised as a message from Hallmark was e-mailed to perhaps as many as 20 Kentucky school districts on Wednesday evening. Servers in the school districts were shut down for various amounts of time while the virus was removed from the system.
Lisa Gross, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Department of Education, said shortly after the virus was discovered a message was sent to warn e-mail users of the virus. The e-mail also advised users to resend any mail that they recently attempted to send.
”We don't wait around when it comes to a virus,“ Gross said. ”Because the system is so big we couldn't afford it.“
The effects of the Hallmark Virus varied among districts. Lisa Deffendall, spokeswoman for the Fayette Public Schools said that 25 work stations were infected with the virus.
”It had a minimal impact,“ Deffendall said.
Mike Burke, director of technology for Fayette County, said the infected computers have been cleaned.
Burke also said that the virus erased the body of the messages sent to users. The only items a user could view were sender and receiver e-mail addresses.
On Thursday evening Gross said there were about three counties that were still working to get their systems back to normal.
By Cara Anthony
canthony@herald-leader.com
A computer virus disguised as a message from Hallmark was e-mailed to perhaps as many as 20 Kentucky school districts on Wednesday evening. Servers in the school districts were shut down for various amounts of time while the virus was removed from the system.
Lisa Gross, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Department of Education, said shortly after the virus was discovered a message was sent to warn e-mail users of the virus. The e-mail also advised users to resend any mail that they recently attempted to send.
”We don't wait around when it comes to a virus,“ Gross said. ”Because the system is so big we couldn't afford it.“
The effects of the Hallmark Virus varied among districts. Lisa Deffendall, spokeswoman for the Fayette Public Schools said that 25 work stations were infected with the virus.
”It had a minimal impact,“ Deffendall said.
Mike Burke, director of technology for Fayette County, said the infected computers have been cleaned.
Burke also said that the virus erased the body of the messages sent to users. The only items a user could view were sender and receiver e-mail addresses.
On Thursday evening Gross said there were about three counties that were still working to get their systems back to normal.