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Brief: Suffolk County, N.Y., Computers Infected with Virus

County computer experts have concluded that the virus originated from an attachment that an employee received and spread.

(Tribune News Service) -- Thousands of Suffolk County, N.Y., government computers have been infected with a computer virus since late last week and have been spewing unwanted, bogus messages, officials said.

The problems began Friday and continued into Tuesday, according to various county users.

Justin Meyers, a spokesman for Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, said Tuesday afternoon that the virus had been "successfully contained and cannot cause further damage." He said the county had installed "a specific virus definition update to security appliances to eradicate the threat from systems and prevent reinfections."

Meyers said the Department of Information Technology determined the virus to be a form of malware -- software used to disrupt computer operations. County computer experts have concluded that the virus originated from an attachment that an employee received and spread to other county computers.

Upon the discovery, information technology officials blocked all employee email accounts from accessing the attachment, which contained the malware, Meyers said.

©2015 Newsday, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC