[URL]http://news.yahoo.com/hundreds-thousands-may-lose-internet-july-181324701--finance.html[/URL]
[QUOTE]WASHINGTON (AP) — For computer users, a few mouse clicks could mean the difference between staying online and losing Internet connections this summer.
Unknown to most of them, their problem began when international hackers ran an online advertising scam to take control of infected computers around
the world. In a highly unusual response, the FBIset up a safety net months ago using government computers to prevent Internet disruptions for those
infected users. But that system is to be shut down.
The FBI is encouraging users to visit a website run by its security partner, [URL]http://www.dcwg.org[/URL] , that will inform them whether they're infected and
explain how to fix the problem. After July 9, infected users won't be able to connect to the Internet.
Most victims don't even know their computers have been infected, although the malicious software probably has slowed their web surfing and disabled
their antivirus software, making their machines more vulnerable to other problems.
Last November, the FBI and other authorities were preparing to take down a hacker ring that had been running an Internet ad scam on a massive
network of infected computers.
"We started to realize that we might have a little bit of a problem on our hands because ... if we just pulled the plug on their criminal infrastructure
and threw everybody in jail, the victims of this were going to be without Internet service," said Tom Grasso, an FBI supervisory special agent. "The
average user would open up Internet Explorer and get 'page not found' and think the Internet is broken."
On the night of the arrests, the agency brought in Paul Vixie, chairman and founder of Internet Systems Consortium, to install two Internet servers to
take the place of the truckload of impounded rogue servers that infected computers were using. Federal officials planned to keep their servers online
until March, giving everyone opportunity to clean their computers. But it wasn't enough time. A federal judge in New York extended the deadline until
July.
Now, said Grasso, "the full court press is on to get people to address this problem." And it's up to computer users to check their PCs.
This is what happened:
Hackers infected a network of probably more than 570,000 computers worldwide. They took advantage of vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Windows
operating system to install malicious software on the victim computers. This turned off antivirus updates and changed the way the computers
reconcile website addresses behind the scenes on the Internet's domain name system.
The DNS system is a network of servers that translates a web address — such as [URL="http://www.ap.org"]www.ap.org[/URL] — into the numerical addresses that computers use.
Victim computers were reprogrammed to use rogue DNS servers owned by the attackers. This allowed the attackers to redirect computers to
fraudulent versions of any website.
The hackers earned profits from advertisements that appeared on websites that victims were tricked into visiting. The scam netted the hackers at
least $14 million, according to the FBI. It also made thousands of computers reliant on the rogue servers for their Internet browsing.
When the FBI and others arrested six Estonians last November, the agency replaced the rogue servers with Vixie's clean ones. Installing and running
the two substitute servers for eight months is costing the federal government about $87,000.
The number of victims is hard to pinpoint, but the FBI believes that on the day of the arrests, at least 568,000 unique Internet addresses were using
the rogue servers. Five months later, FBI estimates that the number is down to at least 360,000. The U.S. has the most, about 85,000, federal
authorities said. Other countries with more than 20,000 each include Italy, India, England and Germany. Smaller numbers are online in Spain, France,
Canada, China and Mexico.
Vixie said most of the victims are probably individual home users, rather than corporations that have technology staffs who routinely check the
computers.
FBI officials said they organized an unusual system to avoid any appearance of government intrusion into the Internet or private computers. And while
this is the first time the FBI used it, it won't be the last.
"This is the future of what we will be doing," said Eric Strom, a unit chief in the FBI's Cyber Division. "Until there is a change in legal system, both
inside and outside the United States, to get up to speed with the cyber problem, we will have to go down these paths, trail-blazing if you will, on
these types of investigations."
Now, he said, every time the agency gets near the end of a cyber case, "we get to the point where we say, how are we going to do this, how are we
going to clean the system" without creating a bigger mess than before.
___
Online:
To check and clean computers: [URL]http://www.dcwg.org[/URL]
[/QUOTE]
If you are lazy, and don't want to read, just go to the link at the bottom to see if you are infected.
7/9/12 the day the internet stood still
Website doesn't even load for me.
To check if you are infected:
[url]http://www.dns-ok.us/[/url]
Not the other one.
[QUOTE=areolop;35678212]To check if you are infected:
[url]http://www.dns-ok.us/[/url]
Not the other one.[/QUOTE]
Good i am in the green.
Since that site is laggy as hell, have a table of links
[img]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20516268/Picts/Delete%20after/links.png[/img]
Green. Phew.
Your computer appears to be looking up IP addresses correctly!
Well looks like lots of people will actually have to go outside for once.
I thought this thread would be some sort of conspiracy theorist Obama shutting down the internet vote Ron Paul thread.
[QUOTE=Bledrix;35678290]Well looks like lots of people will actually have to go outside for once.[/QUOTE]
That reminds me of this one day the power went out in our entire town. Me and my friend went for a walk, and there was like 10 times more people outside than usual.
[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;35678326]That reminds me of this one day the power went out in our entire town. Me and my friend went for a walk, and there was like 10 times more people outside than usual.[/QUOTE]Probably cause they had smart phones with the internet.
im in red what the fuck
Hundreds of thousands is like chicken shit compared to the amount of computers there are online as a whole.
Let's make a big deal out of nothing.
[QUOTE=person11;35678313]I thought this thread would be some sort of conspiracy theorist Obama shutting down the internet vote Ron Paul thread.[/QUOTE]
Only you.
[QUOTE=Lurklet;35678367]im in red what the fuck[/QUOTE]
[url]http://www.dcwg.org/fix/[/url]
Man the FBI site is ugly.
[editline]22nd April 2012[/editline]
shit I hope they don't have my computer bugged.
[QUOTE=Raidyr;35678492]Man the FBI site is ugly.
[editline]22nd April 2012[/editline]
shit I hope they don't have my computer bugged.[/QUOTE]
You insulted their website. Prepare to have your doors busted in within the hour.
[QUOTE=Hullu V3;35678375]Hundreds of thousands is like chicken shit compared to the amount of computers there are online as a whole.
Let's make a big deal out of nothing.[/QUOTE]"These thousands of people have HIV, let's not make a big deal out of nothing."
Lmao at the tools they advise. McAfee, Norton, and the like.
[QUOTE]Most victims don't even know their computers have been infected, although the malicious software probably has slowed their web surfing and disabled
their antivirus software, making their machines more vulnerable to other problems.
[/QUOTE]
Computer AIDS?
[QUOTE=Lurklet;35678367]im in red what the fuck[/QUOTE]
You're gonna die.
[QUOTE=Lurklet;35678367]im in red what the fuck[/QUOTE]
stay the fuck away from me I don't want to get infected!
Will this affect people outside the states? Because if it does and you're Australian you can check your DNS here
[url]http://www.dns-ok.gov.au/[/url]
[QUOTE=Lurklet;35678367]im in red what the fuck[/QUOTE]
QUICK, FIND SOMETHING BLUNT AND KILL HIM BEFORE THE INFECTION SPREADS.
I know like 5 people that have this.
[QUOTE=person11;35678313]I thought this thread would be some sort of conspiracy theorist Obama shutting down the internet vote Ron Paul thread.[/QUOTE]
it was the last time this thread was made
I am going to check tomorrow to see if my school is in the red (i am pretty sure they might be).
[QUOTE=robotman5;35678844]I am going to check tomorrow to see if my school is in the red (i am pretty sure they might be).[/QUOTE]
My school is green so good luck to yours
[QUOTE=Lurklet;35678367]im in red what the fuck[/QUOTE]
BURN HIM
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