Viruses/Worms News

Did Neeris worm hit computers of FBI and U.S. Marshals?

Friday, May 22, 2009

The network security of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Marshals Service were compromised by a virus, forcing the Marshals to disconnect from the Justice Department network on Thursday.

The agencies did not identify the virus, but a spokesman from Trend Micro said the Marshals Service contacted the company for help Wednesday night, Networkworld.com reported.

The spokesman, Michael Sweeny, told the website that the Marshals Service was running an older version of the company's anti-malware software on desktops, laptops and mobile devices.

"[Their version] is a vastly out-of-date, end-of-life product," Sweeny told Networkworld.com.

Sweeny said the Marshals Service paid for upgrades to the software but had failed to install them.

Networkworld.com reported that there was a spike in computers infected by the Neeris worm at the time of the Marshals Service attack.

The Marshals Service confirmed it shut down its network connection to the Justice Department as a precaution after being hit by an unidentified virus, according to the Associated Press. Spokespeople for the Marshals and the FBI said sensitive data was not breached in the attack.

"We too are evaluating a network issue on our external, unclassified network that's affecting several government agencies," FBI spokesman Mike Kortan told the AP.

The FBI shut down its internet access and some email to address the problem, according to the report.