Hundreds of thousands may lose Internet in July

AP ^ | 4/20/2012 | LOLITA C. BALDOR

[iowamark]

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 FBI set 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, http://www.dcwg.org , 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."

[Carriage Hill]

That’s unsettling. I don’t have WiFi (very fast CM only), but will pass this on to people I know who do. Thanks.

[Centaur]

"(tho my IP address is now probably in their data base)"

Exactly.

[Mad Dawgg]

"That’s unsettling. I don’t have WiFi (very fast CM only), but will pass this on to people I know who do. Thanks.

It gets better, with the new deal brokered by Obama between the RIAA/MPAA and the ISPs if someone's wireless network is hacked and someone uses it for an illegal downloading that ISP customer can have his connection throttled and or disconnected without a trial. All the RIAA/MPAA has to do is accuse you.

This all starts in July!

[snowsislander]

Where in Firefox can I make block these?

If you want to do this via Firefox, you could try using the add-on "Silent Block", I guess. I tried it out, and it seems to work although it's not well-documented.

However, I think that the original poster's idea would be a better one: change your DNS nameserver to opendns and customize your opendns settings to block unwelcome TLDs using https://store.opendns.com/get/premium-dns/. That will mean that all of your applications can take advantage of this protection, and it will be easy to set up for any other machines that you use.

(I actually run my own local DNS servers so I can easily block any TLD that I don't like, so I am not personally familiar with using customized opendns but the documentation indicates that this is easy to set up.)

[Carriage Hill]

Why am I not surprised? Disgusted yes, but not surprised.

[Malsua]

Opendns’s free DNS allows you to block up to 15 top level domains. I currently block 11 now, I added CM per the suggestion in a prior post. It’s more than enough to get the bulk of the problem TLDs.

If you add these dns servers to your routers, there’s nothing you have to do on each PC. They also proactively block any known malware/virus/badguy hosts, so that’s another level of protection.

As an added bonus, there are check boxes to block the following(see below)

I crank it all the way up when I have my Nieces and Nephews over, just so they don’t accidentally wander into something foul.

---

High

Protects against all adult-related sites, illegal activity, social networking sites, video sharing sites, and general time-wasters.

26 categories in this group - View - Customize

Moderate

Protects against all adult-related sites and illegal activity.

13 categories in this group - View - Customize

Low

Protects against pornography.

4 categories in this group - View - Customize

None

Nothing blocked.

Custom

Choose the categories you want to block.

[Windflier]

I don’t think Norton 360 will “let me” uninstall it, to change to Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0

IINM, once it’s “in there”, it ain’t coming out “peacefully”.

Boy, that's a fact. I've bought machines that had Norton pre-installed, and it was a bear to completely wipe it from them. It can be done, though, if you're determined.

I don't know anything about the newer versions of Norton, but it used to be a total resource hog, so like a lot of others, I chucked it in favor of something that was a lot trimmer, and really got the job done.

I'm on a Windows 7 machine now, and use Microsoft Security Essentials for my anti-virus software. It is hands down, the best anti-virus program I've ever had.

[Mears]

I’m a female and love opinionated females.

Thanks for your info——and opinion.

Why should the guys have all the fun?

[Carriage Hill]

I think I’ll just leave well enough alone. It works fine, as is.

[Wilum]

I'm on a Windows 7 machine now, and use Microsoft Security Essentials for my anti-virus software. It is hands down, the best anti-virus program I've ever had.

Dittos what you said. I have four machines set up with MS Essentials, two with Win 7 and two with XP,and virus/malware free for 18 months.

[Gator113]

To avoid these issues, I use a super-duper double secret and highly sophisticated protection device.

I use....wait..... wait for it...... an iMac. ;>)

[discostu]

There’s no such thing as a private weather service There’s places where non-government workers make their own predictions based on the data they got from the government, but when it comes to weather predictions eventually the government is always involved.

[Right Wing Assault]

And this guy got it on a....wait..... wait for it...... an iMac. ;>)

Maraxx
May 20, 2010 12:47 PM
Greetings,
I ran a Mac Scan and found a trojan horse — a DNS Changer. I removed it and then I I was reading an article about a DNS Changer but found it a bit complicated but the one thing I did understand that if you have had this trojan and go to “Network” in System Preferences and than to Advanced, then to DNS that the DNS servers should be in black, not grayed out, which mine are. I cannot remove them and restart my IMAC because the minus sign under them is also grayed out.
Does anybody have any ideas that can help me resolve this issue. It is causing a lot of anxiety for me.
Thank you.
IMAC 24”, Mac OS X (10.5.8), Intel Core 2 Duo-2.4GHz-2GB memory

from https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2436469?start=0&tstart=0

[Gator113]

Well darn. ;>)

So far, so good.

[Gator113]

Looks like he had a happy ending.

Maraxx
Re: DNS Changer - Trojan Horse found with Mac Scan...
May 20, 2010 3:44 PM (in response to Kappy)
Greetings,

Thank you for responding. I did remove it via Mac Scan but after reading a post on Apple’s site from a while back I had some concerns. They have been resolved.
Again — thanks.
Maraxx

[Windflier]

My wife still runs XP on her computer. After I set up MS Security Essentials on my own computer, I set it up on hers, and it’s worked like a charm on both.

I’ve had my gripes with that company in the past, but I’ve got no complaints with that product. I give it high marks.

[GOPJ]

If this was really bad, wouldn’t Norton or ZoneAlarm have a fix in place?

[Right Wing Assault]

Glad it worked out for him. I’ve never lost anything or had to start over from scratch, but I have had my minor shares of trouble over the years, even with various virus, etc. stuff onboard. Not fun.

Malware people like to get the most bang for their efforts and so far that has been with PCs. Macs will run into more and more of this now that a lot of people are getting into the various pad versions coming along.

[sr4402]

But I wouldn’t trust a Government Service if you paid me.

[Waywardson]

I have a Mac.

What is “I E”?

/s