Web could vanish for hordes of people in July, FBI
warns
If your computer is infected with the DNSChanger virus,
your summertime Internet activities will be seriously curtailed -- as in
buh-bye. But a special Web site can help you fix the
problem.
by Edward
Moyer April
21, 2012 5:30 AM PDT
The FBI is warning that hundreds of thousands of people could lose
their Internet connections come July, unless they take steps to diagnose and
disinfect their computers.
The problem is related to malware
called DNSChanger that was first discovered way back in
2007 and that has infected millions of computers worldwide.
In simple terms, when you type a Web address into your browser,
your computer contacts DNS (or Domain Name System) servers to find out the
numerical Internet Protocol (IP) address of the site you're trying to reach,
and then it takes you there. DNSChanger fiddled with an infected machine's
settings and directed it to rogue servers set up by a crime ring -- servers that
handed out addresses to whatever sites the ring chose.
As a U.S attorney said in an FBI press release, the crooks "were international
cyberbandits who hijacked millions of computers at will and rerouted them to
Internet Web sites and advertisements of their own choosing -- collecting
millions in undeserved commissions for all the hijacked computer clicks and
Internet ads they fraudulently engineered."
Late last year, however, the FBI disrupted the ring and seized the
rogue servers. And since so many infected computers relied on the servers to
reach the Internet, the agency opted not to shut them down and instead
converted them to legitimate DNS machines.
Running the machines costs the government money, though,so they're
being switched off in July. If your computer is infected with DNSChanger then,
the Web -- for you -- will no longer exist.
The DNSChanger Working Group
(DCWG), the body set up to oversee the servers, has created a Web site to help
you diagnose your machine and, if necessary, remove DNSChanger. You can check
it out atwww.dcwg.org. And
it's probably not a bad idea to do so sometime before, say, July 8 (the DCWG
says the servers will be shut down the following day).
