Virus hits Integral Energy desktops

Integral Energy has been infected by a virus which affected executable Windows files across its fleet of desktops.

A spokesperson for the company confirmed that the company had been infected with W32.Virut.CF and was in the process of its rebuilding its entire fleet desktops, as first reported by the Sydney Morning Herald.

However, the spokesperson stressed that the power grid had not been affected. "[The virus] attacks Microsoft products and the network doesn't run on Microsoft," they said, adding that there was absolutely no way it could make its way onto the grid.

The problem had been discovered last Wednesday, the spokesperson said, which was when the recovery had begun. No date had been set for completion, but the company was "well down the path".

The company had called in a range of experts to help with the outbreak, the spokesperson continued, but would not specify who.

"We've put in place a recovery plan to eliminate the virus from our business systems and maintain service levels to customers," they said, adding that an investigation was underway as to the source of the infection and a strategy was being formed to minimise the risk of it happening again in the future.

According to Symantec's information on the virus, it is a virulent version of file-infector which has made its way into other corporate networks and proved difficult to remove because of the techniques it uses to avoid detection and exorcism.

To remove the threat, according to Symantec, the infected machines needed to be isolated and scanned with antivirus in safe mode to remove the infected files, restoring non-repairable files from backup.

"As a last resort, highly compromised machines may need to be reimaged," Symantec said.