Monday Malware Hype Fizzles as Few Lose Internet Access

This story was all the rage last week, about how hundreds of thousands of Internet users would be locked out of access because of a secret malicious infection from years ago, or something. It turns out, well, not so much. At the Wall Street Journal, "Malware Threat to Internet Corralled"

WASHINGTON—The malware threat to the Internet likely has been tamed.

Leading Internet-service providers said Sunday that they had moved to ensure that computers infected with malware left behind by a hacking spree that started in 2007 continue to access the Internet normally. On Monday, there were few signs that many Americans had lost their Web access.

Since November the Federal Bureau of Investigation has authorized the operation of servers to allow infected computers to run normally, but those servers went offline at midnight.

Comcast Corp. has reached out to customers with infected machines. Verizon Communications Inc. is connecting customers who lost connectivity to the Internet with technicians who can remove the malware. And AT&T Inc. said it has taken steps to make sure none of its customers lose their Internet connections.

Officials from the companies played down the threat, and some cybersecurity experts said computer antivirus programs and updated operating systems have cleaned most infected computers. The FBI had estimated that 64,000 computers were affected.

Stewart Baker, a former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security and partner at the law firm Steptoe & Johnson, said Monday there had been too much hype around the malware threat, which never posed much of a problem.

Exactly.