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03/18/2012 12:23:53 PM · #1 |
Apparently there is a nationwide Malware issue that the FBI is investigating. They have advised people to check to make sure their computer is safe.
The malware redirects your DNS to go through their server, so when you go to google, amazon, dpc, or any other website, they are able to steal your information.
The FBI has provided a link to check your computer.
If you computer is not infected, you will see a green box, if it is, you will see a red box and steps to fix the problem.
If you do not check your computer by July to ensure it is safe, and your's happens to be infected, then the FBI will restrict access for your computer to access the internet, indefinitely.
Here's the link. Checked mine and advised all my family. Thought I would post it here to give everyone a head's up as well:
https://forms.fbi.gov/check-to-see-if-your-computer-is-using-rogue-DNS
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03/18/2012 12:47:44 PM · #2 |
Originally posted by dyridings:
If you do not check your computer by July to ensure it is safe, and your's happens to be infected, then the FBI will restrict access for your computer to access the internet, indefinitely.
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Seriously? How will people who don't read this thread in this forum ever find this out? Strikes me as a bit phishy... Where did your read about it? |
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03/18/2012 12:49:03 PM · #3 |
It's actually funny how the public responds to certain malware and viruses when I can't even begin to tell you how easy it is (with the right knowledge and equipment) to ascertain a person's username,password etc...
One thing to always make sure.. Never visit any important website (that requires a login) from any public computer and always make sure your really connected to the wifi-network that your computer is saying you are connected to. |
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03/18/2012 12:52:10 PM · #4 |
There are nationwide malware issues all the time. Nonstop. It's big business. I'm be suspicious of anything that suggests I click on a link. Malware frequently disguises itself as a scare tactic about malware.
If this is a real warning, what would be effective is to know how this gets on one's computer so it can be avoided or steps taken to protect from it.
Message edited by author 2012-03-18 12:55:13.
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03/18/2012 12:52:41 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by Yo_Spiff:
Malware frequently disguises itself as a scare tactic about malware. |
aka Scareware
eta: I'm looking for the article but there was a story about 2 guys, who created all the banners that said "You computer is infected", when in actually your computer was fine and when you installed their "anti-virus", you actually uninstalled any perfectly working antivirus and installed their virus which made you cough up a bunch of money for absolutely nothing. They made a serious amount of money and a serious amount of Jail time.
Message edited by author 2012-03-18 12:54:22. |
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03/18/2012 12:59:30 PM · #6 |
Interesting. This is a mixture of a truth (the DNS checker on the FBI website) and some inaccurate info.
If you get infected by some malware that changes your DNS without your knowledge, then it is possible that your website requests get rerouted to 'rogue' websites. Your DNS setting determines where your PC looks to map say 'www.google.com' to Google's IP address. If your DNS setting points to a rogue server, then www.google.com might redirect you to 'im.gonna.steal.your.creditcards.com' instead.
What the FBI site allows you to do is check that your DNS server isn't on their list of 'rogue' DNS servers. For this to happen, you'd have to have been infected with the malware first, and have your DNS server address changed without your knowledge.
The false part is that the FBI doesn't have the power to 'disconnect you from the internet'. At the most they can shut down the rogue DNS servers, assuming they're not located in Russia or wherever.
Message edited by author 2012-03-18 12:59:54. |
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03/18/2012 12:59:53 PM · #7 |
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03/18/2012 01:05:41 PM · #8 |
| And here's another version //www.theregister.co.uk/2012/03/09/dnschanger_safety_net_extended/, but to summarise, The FBI are going to shut off the DNS servers that the FBI are running (and collecting information from ???) that infected computers are currently using, the FBI having shut down the botnet some months ago. |
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07/06/2012 04:54:07 PM · #9 |
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07/06/2012 05:31:49 PM · #10 |
| The baddest thing of this all is that I will be really cut off the internet on Jul 11. Just got a letter from my ISP. Maintenance:( Let's hope they're making a mistake, as they often do :) |
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07/06/2012 06:02:01 PM · #11 |
| Seriously, again! I just got back from the planet Zenon in my homemade spacecraft after the warnings from the whole Y2K thing. Now I'm loading provisions and taking off again. See you again in the future Eathlings. |
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07/06/2012 06:24:19 PM · #12 |
Originally posted by Denielle:
Apparently there is a nationwide Malware issue that the FBI is investigating. They have advised people to check to make sure their computer is safe.
The malware redirects your DNS to go through their server, so when you go to google, amazon, dpc, or any other website, they are able to steal your information.
The FBI has provided a link to check your computer.
If you computer is not infected, you will see a green box, if it is, you will see a red box and steps to fix the problem.
If you do not check your computer by July to ensure it is safe, and your's happens to be infected, then the FBI will restrict access for your computer to access the internet, indefinitely.
Here's the link. Checked mine and advised all my family. Thought I would post it here to give everyone a head's up as well:
https://forms.fbi.gov/check-to-see-if-your-computer-is-using-rogue-DNS |
DON'T PANIC!!
I think it's really important to point out what a couple people have pointed out in some links above my post. No offense to Denielle, but much of what is stated in this post is not accurate, and it's by no fault of Danielle I'm sure. This is a story that came up a few months ago that I knew as the date drew nearer would start circulating like the old game of Telephone.
I don't think this is really an ongoing investigation by the FBI. The investigating was done long ago, and the bad servers were shut down and replaced by safe FBI servers. This means that the people currently "infected" are not really in any current danger. The virus or malware is redirecting all their internet use through the FBI server now rather than the malicious server.
The big hoo-doo is that the FBI is about ready to shut those servers down. The FBI is not going to "restrict your computer's access to the internet indefinitely." They're just shutting their servers off. So, those infected computers are simply about to get confused. On all internet activity the virus/malware is going to tell the computer to look for the DNS server first, but it's not going to be there. Since the computer can't find the server it's going to appear that the internet is broken (oh nos!).
The solution is easy, have an antivirus program, scan, and repair. It's not like when the FBI shuts their servers down your computer will blow up. The worst case is that a computer will have to be reformatted, but that's probably because the computer is infected with a bunch of other junk due to not having an antivirus program running previously. It's only affecting access to the internet, so there would be plenty of time to back files up, nothing is lost. 300,000, or whatever the number is now, sounds like a whole lot of affected people, but that's 300,000 globally. If I recall from the original article I read (which I can't find), most of those aren't in the US.
To the ethics of leaving the servers up, I'm sure there's many reasons why the FBI has left their servers in place, but I would like to believe that it was to lessen the impact of let's say just shutting off the servers without warning. This time delay has given people the chance to realize they are infected and clean up their act. My bet is that there used to be a lot more people actively infected than there are currently.
Message edited by author 2012-07-06 18:29:17. |
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07/06/2012 08:01:54 PM · #13 |
There was advice on our radio news this morning to check out dns ok.gov.au (Australia) and I have done that and my computer is okay. (Unless the dns ok site is rogue too, lol.)
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07/06/2012 08:03:11 PM · #14 |
Ive already checked mine and I am clean
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07/07/2012 10:53:07 AM · #15 |
| So who here who owns a MAC has antivirus installed? |
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07/07/2012 11:01:07 AM · #16 |
Originally posted by PennyStreet:
So who here who owns a MAC has antivirus installed? |
Moi. |
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07/07/2012 11:02:05 AM · #17 |
Originally posted by jagar:
Originally posted by PennyStreet:
So who here who owns a MAC has antivirus installed? |
Moi. |
which one? I just switched from PC and this is all making me nervous. |
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07/07/2012 11:35:55 AM · #18 |
| macs are inherently more secure being based on unix a lot harder for stuff to install itself without permission, i used to work on the security team when i was at Sun microsystems love all these fake stories and ones you see on facebook ppl are so naive and believe they are helping b spreading this bs haha |
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07/07/2012 11:44:18 AM · #19 |
Originally posted by PennyStreet:
Originally posted by jagar:
Originally posted by PennyStreet:
So who here who owns a MAC has antivirus installed? |
Moi. |
which one? I just switched from PC and this is all making me nervous. |
I have Kapersky Anti-Virus, my sister in law works for apple and she suggested i get one, its never found anything though. |
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07/07/2012 12:01:46 PM · #20 |
Originally posted by jagar:
Originally posted by PennyStreet:
Originally posted by jagar:
Originally posted by PennyStreet:
So who here who owns a MAC has antivirus installed? |
Moi. |
which one? I just switched from PC and this is all making me nervous. |
I have Kapersky Anti-Virus, my sister in law works for apple and she suggested i get one, its never found anything though. |
thanks. |
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07/07/2012 12:22:30 PM · #21 |
Originally posted by PennyStreet:
So who here who owns a MAC has antivirus installed? |
Not me. Back in the OS 9 days I used to keep Norton Antivirus installed, but OS X has never been a problem. Every few years I'll run into someone convinced that there's a virus on his computer or network, but I never find one. I'll worry about viruses when there's a credible threat. |
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07/07/2012 12:24:24 PM · #22 |
Originally posted by scalvert:
... I'll worry about viruses when there's a credible threat. |
...Is that like the day AFTER your puter no longer works? :O)
Ray |
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07/07/2012 12:34:33 PM · #23 |
Originally posted by RayEthier:
...Is that like the day AFTER your puter no longer works? :O) |
HIGHLY unlikely. I read Mac news sites several times a day, so I'd be aware of a threat long before it became widespread and I'm always suspicious of links and unsolicited emails. |
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07/07/2012 12:58:29 PM · #24 |
| Snopes says this is true, and has info and links for checking your computer. //www.snopes.com/computer/virus/dnschanger.asp Mine appears to be okay. :) |
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07/07/2012 01:00:26 PM · #25 |
Originally posted by jagar:
Originally posted by PennyStreet:
So who here who owns a MAC has antivirus installed? |
Moi. |
Moi aussi. |
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