Nobody looks forward to Mondays, but next Monday could be particularly unpleasant for some computer users. On July 9th, the FBI will disable a temporary internet system installed to redirect inquiries from computers affected by the DNSChanger malware. Thousands of internet users in the US and around the world whose machines are infected with this malware may find themselves unable to go online and they will need assistance from their service providers to remove the malware and reconnect to the Internet.
The DNSChanger virus, which has infected thousands of PCs and Macs since 2007, was created by a group of hackers who ran an online advertising scam to take control of more than 570,000 computers around the world. The scam redirected a victim’s web browser to sites designated by the hackers, who have been identified as six Estonians and one Russian.
This nasty bug also prevents infected machines from downloading operating system and antivirus security updates that could detect the malware and stop it in its tracks. Warnings about the virus and impending shut down of the temporary servers have been widely broadcast by social networking sites and Internet providers for months.
FBI agents realized that if they shut down those domains, machines affected by DNSChanger would not be able to browse the internet, since their requests would go to dead addresses. So the FBI worked with the Internet Systems Consortium to install two servers which have been handling requests from infected machines by re-directing the requests to the proper sites. The intention of this action was to buy the users time to purge the malware from their machines.
The DNSChanger Working Group has set up a website to allow users to determine if their machines are infected within seconds. If you visit the site and see a green background on the graphic displayed there, your machine is not infected with the malware. Infected users will see the graphic on a red background. I ran this test myself and it’s super fast and simple. The group has published a FAQ for those who find that their machine may be infected.
If you do find that you are infected with this malware, call Teltek!
Virus purging and prevention is just one of the Computer Repair services we offer. It’s a serious task that needs to be performed by IT experts and we are always happy to assist! Whether it’s your home or office computer that is infected, we will come to your rescue.
Teltek is proud to offer IT services as the fourth component to our multi-systems approach as your single source technology services company. This Managed Service Provider (MSP) offering completes our longstanding goal to provide our clients with a one-call resource for all of their business technology needs. IT outsourcing, remote back up and disaster recovery, helpdesk support, computer network relocations, security products and virus detection/elimination are just a few of the services available.