Students trying to check their NIU e-mail accounts Saturday were at a loss.

The university’s computer network was shut down after massively increased traffic on the server was noticed.

The traffic stemmed from a virus attack that entered through the Microsoft SQL Web server that is used by many organizations and companies, including NIU. The virus affected networks throughout the world.

The virus entered the server and began sending messages to other servers in an attempt to infiltrate them.

“It was kind of like turning all the water pipes on at the same time so that nobody can get water,” said Wally Czerniak, head of Information Technology Services.

NIU technology personnel were able to download updates to the Microsoft server that fixed the problem. By 7 p.m. Saturday, most servers around NIU were running again.

No noticeable damage was done. Workers are doing an extensive network search to make sure the virus did not affect the system.

“People should not be afraid to open their NIU e-mail,” Czerniak said. “The university scans all e-mails for viruses.”

The virus, dubbed “Sapphire,” “Slammer” and “SQ-Hell,” infected more than 150,000 computers, jamming e-mail servers and stopping downloads and e-mail attachments, according to an Associated Press article. The effects of the attack were decreased because it occurred on the weekend, when fewer servers are running. The origin of the virus still is unknown, but Hong Kong and South Korea were among the first and hardest hit. The FBI is looking into the attack.