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Uncategorized Thursday, February 16th 2012 at 11:10 am

FBI to Take Down a Chunk of Internet on March 8

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If you can’t access the Internet come March 8th, the FBI may be to blame. On that date, a number of domain name servers are due to be taken offline, rendering all computers that use them net-less. Before you go get upset about this, or even worried, there’s a pretty legitimate justification here; the action is being taken in order to deal with a scourge called the DNSChanger Trojan, which modifies an infected computer’s DNS settings to direct traffic to some rather unsavory sites. The FBI is looking ti put the sucker out of commission for good.

DNSChanger originated from Estonia and is thought have wiggled its way into quite a few computers. Cyber security journalist Brian Krebs estimates that, at some point, it has infected up to half of all the Fortune 500 companies and major government entities. In order to stem the tide and keep DNSChanger from snowballing out of control, the FBI worked with the Estonian government and secured a court order to replace the dirty DNS with some clean replacements, in order to give affected clients some time get their systems straight. The thing is, that court order only allows for these replacement servers to run up until March 8th, so unless the order gets extended, anyone who’s still got a little DNSChanger in their system is going suddenly be short about one Internet.

All this can be avoided, thankfully, simply by cleaning up your system. How do you know if you need to? There are two handy references to help you out. If you’re a corporation you can go to the DNS Changer Working Group and should probably alert your network operator that you’ve become sentient. If you’re a person, you can follow the steps here to suss out whether or not you’re afflicted. Or, you could take a third option, get infected and do nothing about it, and use this opportunity to whine about technically being a victim of an FBI DNS takedown for +20 NetCred. Your call.

(via Betabeat)

Some of your more conventional FBI takedowns

Filed Under | • • • •
  • http://www.facebook.com/GODoftheRIGOVERSE Brian Godoftherigoverse Rodrig

    I got NORTON’s 360 and a Firefox browser i am i safe

  • Rafinkamal

    the LINK isnt working..how do we know if there is anything in our comp????

  • Antonio Bologna

    I have norton 360 and internet explorer, i’m good… And i havn’t had any infections for the past 7 years

  • Anonymous

    How do we know that’s what they’re really doing, I may sound paranoid but they’re not exactly the most truthful government. If they try anything, I can assure that anonymous will be there.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=769780077 Ferrus Manus

     So, uh….Why don’t they just use the DNS servers to forward anyone using them to a page telling people that they’re infected and provide links to removal software?

  • Allora

     Me too!  Guess we are both good to go!  :D

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Michael-McCollough/516541859 Michael McCollough

    Worst AV ever.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_Z4CJFSWSF6NJQ2QO56FEBHKHJM K

    Because that would be reasonable and not dickish.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_Z4CJFSWSF6NJQ2QO56FEBHKHJM K

    yeah, cause THAT’S reassuring.

  • Kkcdns

    what is this i write   etirw i siht si tahw  :) :( 

  • Anonymous

    Just a couple of days after google changes its privacy policy. Seems a bit weird to me

  • Sucid

    Because you’re is so slow you can’t surf.

  • DirtySouthTech

    Another false flag.  This government wants to get its tentacles into the entire Internet for the sake of control.  Stuxnet for example, was an Israeli operation, and at the time it was discovered, it was in Iranian nuclear facilities, making it necessary to physically plant it from a CD or pendrive.  When it started affecting other facilities around the world, this was still true.  While Israel herself is not bad, just as America is not bad, we’ve got rogue elements in both governments that are aching for war. 

    Do not be fooled by this propaganda.  I’m a computer technician and have been in the business for ten years.  I know Windows and Linux environments, and I know networking.  When you’re in this field long enough, you tend to get instincts.  Use multiple forms of Antivirus, use a DNS server–either stand alone, or under a Unix based OS, and have a dual boot with either Linux or one of the BSD’s.  Rely on YOURSELF, not the government. 

    A final warning:  Do NOT click on any links here that point to government sites.  I’ve seen browser redirects and security certificate changes take place WHILE on these sites, and God knows what else is going on behind the scenes.   To give an example of legitimate reasons for such caution, during the Cash for Clunkers program, the government set up an advisory for the owners of car lots stating that the moment you sign in and agree to their TOS, their computers became government property.  When people complained, the TOS was immediately changed.  They’ve become bolder since then.  A good rule of thumb would be to avoid sites ending in ‘.gov’ at all, but ESPECIALLY in Windows.

  • http://technojourney.com/ nik

    Hey, you can use Avira DNS Repair tool to check if your computer is infected.

  • ANON

    NORTON 360?!?!? AHAHHAHAHHAHA