Internet malware effect limited

The day that was supposed to see thousands of people knocked off the Internet arrived Monday, but the impact appeared to be limited.

Thousands of Internet users waited too long or simply didn't believe warnings that they would lose access to the Internet just after midnight because of malware that took over computers around the world more than a year ago.

At 12:01 a.m. yesterday, the FBI turned off Internet servers that were functioning as a temporary safety net to keep infected computers online for the past eight months.

A court order the agency had gotten to keep the servers running expired and was not renewed.

FBI officials have been tracking the number of computers they believe still may be infected by the malware. As of Sunday night, there were about 41,800 infected by the malware in the United States, the FBI said, down from 45,600 on July 4. Worldwide, the total is roughly 211,000 infected.

Considering there are millions of Internet users across the country, several thousand losing access isn't a big deal -- unless you are one of them.

On Long Island, Cablevision Systems Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc., both Internet service providers, each reported few customer problems.

Cablevision spokesman Jim Maiella said Monday the company previously posted on its website information about the malware threat, including instructions on how to find out if computers were infected and how to remove malware.

He added the company did not receive a significant number of calls Monday from customers worried about the bug. (Cablevision owns Newsday.)

Verizon spokesman John J. Bonomo said the company informed customers about the computer threat via email, telephone and postal mail. "We are continuing our strong, concerted and multipronged outreach to what's a very small number of Verizon customers."

With James T. Madore