Computers belonging to the FBI and the U.S. Marshals were attacked by a mysterious computer virus causing a forced shutdown of some of their communication systems, the U.S. Justice Department confirmed.

 

The decision to turn off some of the systems was made in an attempt to protect them from being infected. Machines that get struck by malicious software may suffer from what is known as slow computer and mayrequire owners to get an overall computer repair.

 

The Marshals Service and the FBI said it had decided to block Web access to part of the e-mail services.

The Marshal’s spokeswoman, Nikki Credic, said that no data was compromised.

She added that the virus was believed to be Neeris, which is often described as a copycat of the notorious Conficker worm.