WebProNews

Tag: DNSChanger

  • Nothing To See Here: The Internet Will Be Just Fine Today

    As you all probably know by know, people have been somewhat concerned over losing their Internet today. The DNSChanger malware and the servers the FBI was using to reroute infected machines will be shut down today. Unfortunately, there may be some civilian casualties as some U.S. citizen’s internet connectivity may die with the servers. A collection of ISPs are making sure that doesn’t happen.

    The Wall Street Journal reports that various ISPs around the country are doing what they can to ensure their users don’t end up without Internet today. While only 64,000 computers are thought to be infected with the malware, that’s still 64,000 angry phone calls asking why they can’t tell people they ate this morning on Facebook.

    Comcast has apparently already identified their customers with infected machines and has helped them become clean before the killswitch date of midnight last night. Verizon will be playing the wait and see game and then sending technicians to those who have lost connectivity. Finally, AT&T just says that they have “taken steps” to ensure their customers don’t lose their Internet connection.

    If you’re reading this story right now, it should be pretty apparent that your machine was clean. Other people might not be so lucky. If you find that a neighbor or somebody you know is without Internet, have them call up their ISP. They should be able to sort it out and get them back to surfing in no time.

    While the DNSChanger was a pretty nasty piece of malware, it shouldn’t have any lingering after effects beyond potentially cutting people off from the Internet. Even then, the problem is easily fixed so nobody should be worrying about an FBI plot to collect your information or shut down the Internet.

    For more information on Operation Ghost Click and how to get help for those infected, check out the FBI’s page on the matter. It has all the information you could possibly want on Operation Ghost Click and what you can do to help those who find themselves suddenly unable to express themselves on Twitter.

  • Google Alerts Users About Their Malware-Infected Machines

    The DNSChanger malware is a nasty piece of software, which, at its core, is about tricking the infected user into giving up personal information that can be harvested by the deviant programmers, normally for their own personal gain. The malware in question, which is the current top trend in the computer security industry, is so widespread, the FBI has its own PDF instructing those who are infected about the options they can take to remove this particular strain of malicious computer software.

    So much so, in fact, that Google has gotten involved in the prevention movement, going as far to inform infected parties of their condition when a Google search is conducted. Google does so with the following message:

    Google Malware Warning
    Click for larger image

    Which says:

    Your computer appears to be infected

    We believe that your computer is infected with malicious software. If you don’t take action, you might not be able to connect to the internet in future.

    Learn how to remove this software.

    As you may or may not know, the criminal ring responsible for the DNSChanger malware was broken up by an international sting that included the FBI. The problem is, even though the criminals responsible for the infection have been neutralized, the infected systems remained. To provide time for users to correct the situation, the enforcement agencies allowed the servers that powered the DNSChanger to remain active, but only until July 9.

    After that, any infected computer would, theoretically, would not be able to connect to the Internet because the servers the malware redirects infected users to will no longer be online. With that in mind, this is where Google’s efforts kick in. While Google’s helping hand seems praise-worthy, some also see it as something else that can be mimicked by other malicious developers in order to trick unsuspecting users–of which, there appears to be a lot–into further malware infection.

    Ah, the joys of dealing with phishing attempts.

    If you’re worried about getting caught on a phishing hook, other potential solutions include a look up service provided by the FBI, which checks to see if a machine is infected. If you’d like to be a little more thorough, the DNS Changer Working Group (DCWG) has a in-depth detection page, featuring a step-by-step guide for those of you who may be overwhelmed by the idea of working with your computer without outside intervention.

    The group also has a number of suggestions in regards to cleaning an infected system, all of which involve installing cleaning/removal software from companies like Microsoft, Kaspersky, and McAfee. This is similar to Google’s malware information page, which hammers home the idea that this is not about which detection system you choose. It’s about getting infected machines cleaned, preferably, before the DNSChanger servers are shutdown, something that’s still scheduled for July 9 of this year.