It’s a scary thought, having the Internet forcibly shut off for you. But it’s just what some Fortune 500 companies and government agencies could face as the Federal Bureau of Investigation tries to get rid of an extremely malicious computer virus.
Krebs on Security reports that the malware — DNSChanger Trojan — infected more than 4 million computes in more than 100 countries thanks to the work of six men who were arrested in Estonia for the crime in Nov. 2011. Gizmodo reports that the virus causes the user to be sent to fraudulent websites by changing DNS settings and even prevents them from visiting security sites that could help rid them of the virus.
In the United States, a half a million computers were reportedly infected with a security firm finding at least one infection in half of the Fortune 500 companies and 27 government agencies. What’s to be done? Krebs on Security reports that any computer still infected by March 8, 2012, will have Internet service disconnected from it:
“Yes, there are challenges with removing this malware, but you would think people would want to get this cleaned up,” said Rod Rasmussen, president and chief technology officer at Internet Identity. “This malware was sometimes bundled with other stuff, but it also turns off antivirus software on the infected machines and blocks them from getting security updates from Microsoft.”Computers still infected with DNSChanger are up against a countdown clock. As part of the DNSChanger botnet takedown, the feds secured a court order to replace the Trojan’s DNS infrastructure with surrogate, legitimate DNS servers. But those servers are only allowed to operate until March 8, 2012. Unless the court extends that order, any computers still infected with DNSChanger may no longer be able to browse the Web.
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