MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Thousands of people across the United States could lose their Internet service Monday thanks to a worldwide computer infection that started last year.
The infection is part of the DNSChanger Malware that was shut down by the Federal Bureau of Investigation last year. It started when international hackers ran an ad scam to take control of more than 570,000 infected computers around the world.
The FBI was going to take down the hackers’ network last year, but quickly realized if the malicious servers were shut down, all of the infected computers would lose internet service. So the FBI set up clean servers to take over for the malicious servers so people could keep their internet.
But, the clean servers are now being shut down and that could leave thousands of computers looking for the internet Monday.
According to the FBI, worldwide the number of infected computers is more than 277,000. Out of the worldwide infected computer number, 45,000 are still-infected in the United States.
Internet providers have planned for the problem and will try to help any impacted customers. There’s also a way to check yourself to see if you’re computer is infected with the DNSChanger, via the FBI.
- Click here to check your computer.
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