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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsStill infected, 300,000 PCs to lose Internet access July 9
If you havent already seen the screaming headlines across the blogosphere declaring the arrival of Internet Armageddon for a quarter-million PCs because of a virus, allow us to get you up to speed. Believe it or not, some of the 4 million computers hijacked by Estonian and Russian hackers through a long-running botnet called DNSChanger are still not patched, over eight months after the FBI and Estonian authorities broke up the ring in November of 2011.
The botnet took control of PCs, changing their DNS settings to connect to rogue DNS servers, which allowed the ring to reroute a users click on web advertisements to alternative sites and replace web ads with those of companies that paid the ring for clicks. When the FBI shut down the rogue DNS servers at the center of the ring, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York appointed Internet Systems Consortium, a not-for-profit company, to keep running replacement DNS servers so affected users would not lose Internet access before they could remove the botnet and fix their DNS settings. The FBI also posted tools to help PC owners check to see if their system was affected by the botnet. (If you havent checked yours, go there now.)
On Monday, July 9, the court order runs out, and ISC will pull the plug on the DNS servers. But by some estimates, as many as 300,000 computers are still using the DNS servers to resolve their Internet searches. Those systems will lose the ability to resolve domain names for web sites and email when the server is disconnected.
Dont say you werent warned.
http://arstechnica.com/security/2012/07/still-infected-300000-pcs-to-lose-internet-access-july-9/
You can check to see if you are looking up IP addresses correctly here:
http://www.dns-ok.us/
ProgressiveEconomist
(5,818 posts)Major Hogwash
(17,656 posts)Mo betta headline, mo betta butta.
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)SoDesuKa
(3,173 posts)You'd be amazed what people actually believe about their computers. For instance, you and I know that a virus is a metaphor; it's not an actual virus. There are folks who think keeping their computer germ-free also prevents viruses . . . .. I kid you not. Others think that the odds of re-infection so great that they adopt a "so far so good" mentality and simply take their chances.
A virus is software, and microbiological analogies are useful only up to a point. If you have no idea how malicious software works, it's possible you don't fully understand what disinfection is about.
Little harsh.
"They knew the risks when they bought those tickets. I say, let 'em crash!"
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)I make money from people who constanly make the ID ten T error but you get tired of the same old.
I had one person bring his infected computer in once a month and in each case he had deliberately disabled the antivirus because he got tired of the flashing warning screen when he was looking at porn sites.
I finally asked him what part of "Danger! Danger! Will Robinson!" did he not understand.
DiverDave
(4,886 posts)about this.
When I checked mine I remembered that I had checked before.
But it never hurts to check again.
GoneOffShore
(17,340 posts)Just going to prove that there is, indeed, a golden retriever.
Brigid
(17,621 posts)Thanks!
But what about blackberries?
Go Vols
(5,902 posts)This program will find the fastest one for you if you need to change.
http://www.grc.com/dns/benchmark.htm