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Hundreds of thousands of computers could lose internet access on July 9, the FBI has warned.

The so-called ‘internet doomsday’ could strike unless owners check for a dormant virus, which may have remained hidden for several years.

FBI investigators are to turn off a server system investigators installed in November after breaking up an Estonian cyber crime ring.

The six men had been using a Trojan to seize control of computers from around the world and were able to take over PCs and Apple products, however smartphones and tablet devices were ignored.

Since 2007 the DNS Changer virus operated by the gang would redirect victims’ web browsers to ones they controlled, meaning revenue from adverts tied to their sites earnt them more than £9 million in commission.

Internet doomsday

Users with the virus would have been unaware of its presence, and would have only noticed a slight slowing of internet speed, more pop-up adverts and their anti-virus will have been disabled by it.

Late last year the FBI and Estonian authorities shut down the racket, however it is believed that about half a million computers will have been controlled by the virus.

Investigators created a safety net allowing infected computers to remain online, and developed a DNS Checker page, however 350,000 infected computers still remain.

Some 20,000 of these are in the UK, with most presumed to belong to private individuals rather than businesses.

metro.co.uk