Berkeley schools restore Internet

Internet service has been restored to all Berkeley County schools after a computer virus struck the district's network last week.

Berkeley Assistant Superintendent for Learning Services Mike Turner said the district shut down Internet service at all schools as a precaution as members of the technology department tried to isolate the Sality-AM virus. The virus affects Windows operating systems and spreads by infecting files.

Technology officials worked with the district's anti-virus software provider and state security agencies to get a handle on the problem. Turner said the virus affects companies across the world and the district was not targeted specifically.

Most schools were able to send internal e-mails and run software for the majority of last week, with the Internet shutdown serving as the major disruption to normal operations, Turner said.

But at four of the district's 36 schools, the virus affected some files stored on the personal computers.

Technology officials worked throughout the weekend to clean out the infected files at those schools, Turner said.