Virus reinfects school district Web site
JANESVILLE — The Janesville School District’s Web site was taken down Monday after a link to a computer virus was discovered.
The link was to the same virus that attacked the district’s computer system Sept. 19 and forced the district to take the Web site down at that time.
The Sept. 19 virus also caused widespread disruptions, cutting user access to a variety of programs and files.
Computer disruptions continue at some school buildings, but district staff and outside consultants have come a long way in restoring the system, said Doug Bunton, district business director.
Part of the virus’ attack included installing a link to itself in the district’s Web site, said Brandon Keirns, manager of information technology. So when someone accessed the site, the virus tried to download itself to visitors’ computers.
Antivirus software can thwart such attacks. Keirns said it’s possible that someone without the antivirus software who accessed the site Monday morning could have downloaded the virus.
The problem reappeared when someone was updating the Web site Monday. The person used a version of a district Web page that still contained a link to the virus, Keirns said.
When a Janesville Gazette reporter accessed the Web site Monday morning, the Gazette’s antivirus software apparently detected a threat and deleted it. The Gazette informed school district officials, who took their site down.
The Web site should be repaired within 24 hours, Keirns said Monday afternoon.
The virus is a new version of an old virus known as Virut. The new version is Virut!.gen, Keirns said.
Most of the damage was limited to the district’s computer servers, according to district memos. Servers had to be rebuilt. The last of the server rebuilds was completed Monday morning, Bunton said.
Bunton said he hoped that by this afternoon, all the drives teachers and students use would be restored.
Bunton said “a lot of loose ends” still need to be cleaned up, and he knows staff frustrations will continue until all the issues have been resolved.
“We’re now in the process of installing a new, more effective antivirus program,” an Oct. 17 memo stated.
The Janesville School Board is expected to hear an update on the situation when it meets at 7 p.m. today.
Oct 29, 2008 at 11:53 p.m.
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call1: i find it interesting that you apparently consider yourself knowledgable, and comment to Pwtrip that he must not understand something. The fact is that this whole situation was completely avoidable, and the head the department should be held responsible. If you want to talk network security, I would eagerly defend a position of questioning in that regard. Why the district has yet not fired this guy is beyond me! I wonder how much this will cost the tax payer, and how much it will cost the teachers in this distrcit. Wierd how they find money to fix the problems resulting from some empoyee's incompetence, yet each year we hear about how that have to cut millions in the budgets. So which teachers will be determined no longer affordable as a result of all this?
Oct 29, 2008 at 9:27 p.m.
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Ever try something simple like Spy Sweeper??
Oct 29, 2008 at 7:01 p.m.
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Do any one know which antivirus program they did go with? As a IT professional and a taxpayer I am also wondering when some jobs will be opening.
Oct 29, 2008 at 9:06 a.m.
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Call1: Are you joking? I completely agree with Pwrtrip and so does anyone else who works in IT as a real job. All responsibility falls back to the manager of the department. What a disgrace.
Oct 28, 2008 at 6:30 p.m.
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Pwrtrip:
You obviously have no idea what your talking about. If you knew anything about PC's, networking & viruses, you wouldn't have wasted my time with this ridicules statement. Educate yourself. Oh.. and please pay attention when reading. If your looking for someone to blame for the re-occurrence, you need to point the finger at the one who re-uploaded the template with the infection, months after Brandon & his staff eradicated the virus. Todays cyberspace virus is a nightmare for people who do what Brandon (& I occasionally)do.
You owe someone an apology!
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