“Three weeks after a virus infected computers across the Vancouver school district, information technology staff are being forced to attend to thousands of computers individually – and still have a long way to go before the system is running efficiently,” Mary Frances Hill reports for The Vancouver Sun.
“The virus hit most computers in the school district on January 7. Since the virus replicates itself from one computer to the next, staff were instructed to shut down every computer in the school district,” Hill reports.
“There are more than 10,000 computers in the district, each of which had to be shut down and disconnected from the network, then individually scanned and repaired if necessary, said Weir,” Hill reports.
“An online student forum by Point Grey secondary students identified the virus as Win32.Krap.b trojan, a bug that affects mostly Windows operating systems, shutting down computers as soon as users try to start them,” Hill reports.
MacDailyNews Take: The aptly-named “Win32.Krap.b” is also known as “W32.Gammima.AG.” It is a worm that spreads by copying itself to removable media. It also steals passwords to various online games. The same worm also infected Windows laptops aboard the International Spaces Station (See: Windows worm loose on International Space Station; Mac-using astronauts unaffected – August 27, 2008). This worm affects only WIndows PCs, not “mostly.” In Vancover, they must hire “journalists” from the same halfway house where they find their school district “IT staff.”
Hill continues, “Noel MacDonald, a Westside parent of an 11-year-old who attends Bayview elementary school, said many computers in his son’s school have been marked with a red dot, signifying that the machine is so old it wouldn’t be able to withstand the anti-virus program. MacDonald said the school’s Parent Advisory Council had paid for a computer lab with Macintosh machines, which haven’t been affected.“
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: At least the school’s Parent Advisory Council knows WTF they’re doing.
