Screw
the Mayans, the FBI says the end of the world is July 9th and they
mean it this time.
Back
in October, the FBI announced "the biggest cyber criminal
takedown in history." when they caught an international crime
ring that had hijacked more than 4 million computers in 100
countries.
"Operation
Ghost Click" (ah the FBI) put an end to the scheme but the FBI
then ran into the age old problem so many teens realize on Prom
Night; now that you have it, what are you going to do with it?
The
hijacking, perpetrated by six Estonians*, changed the internet
settings of the computers it infected to deliver search results
they wanted instead of Google or Bing's. Results made up of sites
that had paid them, over $14M, to be ranked high when people
searched for goods and services.
The
Estonians had created their own DNS Servers, and using malware
known as DNSChanger, redirected infected computers to them.
DNS (Domain Naming System) Servers translate Domain Names into IP
Addresses. For instance; instead of typing google.com into your browser
you can type 74.125.225.131. The DNS Servers used by your PC
translate google.com into 74.125.225.131 for you. More information
on how DNSChanger works, and Operation Ghost Click is available
from the FBI website at
http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/november/malware_110911.
Passionately
the FBI planned to go all the way and shut the DNS Servers down on
March 8, 2012. But then what? 4 million PCs unable to search
the internet? They decided to wait, and will down the rogue DNS
Servers on July 9, 2012; doomsday.
Doomsday is
just around the corner, the clock is ticking, and if you don't have
protection you could be in big trouble. You can start by going to https://forms.fbi.gov/check-to-see-if-your-computer-is-using-rogue-DNS to
get tested for DNSChanger.
If you're currently experiencing a higher level of
concern over the consequences of your actions you can go to the
Portal page of www.cnci.us and get some free
protection. You can find "Housecall" and
"MalwareBytes" there.
Housecall
is a cloud based virus scan from Trend Micro. Housecall will
install a little link on your PC that runs a scan from the internet
on demand. It is free, and works quite well. Housecall is not protection,
it is a type of Plan B, it will tell you if you are infected and
help you deal with it. MalwareBytes is also free, and also
Plan B. Paid versions of both, with real-time protection, are
available.
The
Portal page at www.cnci.us also has a link to
a free version of AVG Antivirus which will give you real-time
protection. AVG also has paid versions that bring even more to the
party.
Get tested, use protection, go Plan B, that's your
call, and that's Cocktail Talk.
