Software expert Eric Herbert is busy checking his clients computers as an important deadline is coming up Monday July 9th in the "Doomsday" malware saga. An estimated 64,000 computers in the United States are infected and their owners have no idea.
"That's the biggest problem not knowing that you have it," Herbert said, who is owner of computer training company Panurgy.
"In the news recently you've heard about or some people have heard about the doomsday virus or malware."
The FBI raided the hackers responsible for the malware attack last year. But they had to set up "clean" servers so that people who had downloaded the bad software could stay connected to the Internet.
On Monday, the FBI is shutting down those servers so people who have the malware will lose connection to the Web.
"So if on the 9th you're trying to get to a web page, send or receive an email and it is not happening there's a very good chance you're infected with this "Doomsday" virus," Herbert said.
Computers could have been hacked if the user clicked on an advertisement on a web page. Computers that operate on the same network, say at an office, are all vulnerable if even one computer has the malware.
The FBI has created a web site to help inform computer users if they have the virus.
But even Herbert admits that it "really can look meaningless if you don't do this everyday."
So the best thing to do is contact your Internet service provider, an expert like Herbert at Panurgy to find out if you've been infected by the malware.
