New Delhi, March 15 (PTI): The email system in the Prime Minister’s Office was virus afflicted for three months last year before officials detected the problem and replaced it with a new software.

From February to April 2008, the PMO did not receive many of the mails addressed to it because of the virus. The extent of the damage is uncertain.

The problem was detected late last April after which the Microsoft Outlook Express software, on which the PMO’s email communication system was based, was replaced with SquirrelMail.

The matter came to light during one of the hearings of the Central Information Commission where the PMO submitted that there was a virus problem in the months of February, March and April “that was finally diagnosed only late in April”.

The commission was hearing a plea of retired Air Commodore Lokesh Batra, who had sent an email to the PMO.

In its submission to the commission, the PMO said: “Many mails reportedly sent were not received in the Outlook Express and subsequently the Outlook Express was discontinued and SquirrelMail was used.”

Cyber forensic experts say a virus attack can compromise email security.