A third-party took over the web address used by recovery software on Dell PCs after a contractor failed to update it.

Brian Krebs, a security expert, reported the issue, according to the BBC.

Many of the firms Recovery Application and Backup is installed by default, allowing users to restore factor settings to their computers.

Mr Krebs said in his blog: “Approximately two weeks after Dell’s contractor lost control over the domain, the server it was hosted on started showing up in malware alerts.”

Dell admitted to losing control of the domain name, but said the problem had been “addressed” in a recent statement.

Dell said to the BBC: “We do not believe that the Dell Backup and Recovery calls to the URL during the period in question resulted in the transfer of information to or from the site, including the transfer of malware to any user device.”

The latest version of its application no longer tries to contact the rogue website.

Written by Leah Alger