The MFS community was impaired by a virus in the beginning of September. The virus affected everyone in the community by restricting MFS’s internet access, the Outlook email server, and also creating difficulty for teachers to post homework. Although this happened nearly ten days ago, most people still don’t know what happened.

On September 11, WordsWorth sat down with MFS computer technology assistant Matt Wartenberg, who told us, “It was a virus that spread across the school, that likely [was] caused by someone on the inside.” This means that there was probably a link or a website that an MFS community member clicked on.

The chair of the science department, Laura Slocum, said that she was worried, when the virus first struck, that students wouldn’t be able to post their homework assignments. She also told us that even though the email was down, “The science department was able to communicate with each other through text messages.”

There are two big questions lingering in the MFS community:  How do we prevent this from happening in the future, and what are the long term effects? Moving forward, Wartenberg said, “Don’t click on a link that you are unsure of, and always check the sender of the email. This will help to prevent any more viruses from hitting the community.”

The long-term situation is still uncertain, but the MFS1 WiFi is back up and working, and  students are also now allowed to print out papers in the library. On September 24, WordsWorth followed up with technology department chair Steve Kolaris on the future of our school email. Kolaris said that “We are using Gmail for the foreseeable future.”