(AP) Tens of thousands of Americans may be losing their Internet service Monday.
Warnings about an attack by hackers have been posted on Facebook and Google, but it's believed that more than 60,000 computers in the United States are still infected.
People can still do a quick check of their computers for the malware that could have taken over those computers more than a year ago.
The problem began when international hackers ran an online advertising scam to take control of more than 570,000 infected computers around the world. When the FBI went in to take down the hackers late last year, agents realized that if they turned off the malicious servers being used to control the computers, all the victims would lose their Internet service.
In a highly unusual move, the FBI set up a safety net. They brought in a private company to install two clean Internet servers to take over for the malicious servers so that people would not suddenly lose their Internet.
And while it was the first time they'd done something like that, FBI officials acknowledged that it may not be the last since authorities are taking on more of these types of investigations.
The temporary Internet system they set up, however, will be shut down at 12:01 a.m. EDT Monday, July 9.
