FBI: Hundreds Of Thousands May Lose Internet In July

WASHINGTON (AP) — 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, 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."

On the night of the arrests, the agency brought in Paul Vixie, chairman and founder of Internet Systems Consortium, to install two Internet servers to take the place of the truckload of impounded rogue servers that infected computers were using. Federal officials planned to keep their servers online until March, giving everyone opportunity to clean their computers. But it wasn't enough time. A federal judge in New York extended the deadline until July.

To check and clean computers: www.dcwg.org...

Source


Better be checking your pc now, before you lose your access. I check all my PCs, thank god I'm clean.

Sounds fake.

Just saying.

reply to post by benrl



Some how I don't think the Associated Press in going to report on "fake" news. Could be disinformation.

also retarded. just do a system wipe and reinstall windows. an infected computer has nothing to do with the internet.

is this safe?

im scared to click that independent .org site

why doesn't the fbi have a click thru directly from their .gov website?

if they do, pls link - thanks!

Here as well. and then we had the March 8th warning too.

There are sites to go to, to see if your computer is affected. Like this one. You click, and it's either green or red.

If you computer is red the DNS settings have been changed. Fix that.

This is real enough... We've heard about it at the college and the specific site this links to is one I had to check out for a link someone posted at the site I volunteer at. It eventually links back into the FBI at their .gov and it's as legit as I could make certain of. No one at the other site has mentioned a problem anyway.


It's real..but it's not that big a deal if people just take a moment...read the directions for the super-crash course short version of what DNS IS...and where in a Windows system DNS is configured. No one really needs to know why or how it all works..and there are semester long 101 intro classes that still don't effectively answer THAT side of things..

As I've understood this whole temptest in a teapot, all the user NEEDS to know is that DNS has to do with IP numbers which is what everything connected to ANY form of network has. You need to know where inside windows you can see your own IP numbers and the the basics for what they SHOULD say vs, what they DO say and how to change it.

The link from the OP does have links on there for all that and for each version of Windows. Just make sure your computer isn't loading "hackers-got-ya . com" when you THINK and see your browser loading "Google . com". That is all this is and all it does. Kinda cheap, really.... Playing with the HOSTS.TXT file does about the same thing..and can be part of this as well.

Ahhh dear god.. here we go again, why did they postpone it?

I was only thinking about this yesterday too, wondering what happened to it. At least this time, the news title is far less evocative... it was originally "FBI to shut down internet on March 8." and everyone was up in arms, "oh noes, they fbi is stealing my internets, it is a test before they nwo eat mah braiiinss..."

had a good 4 or 5 threads on here too...

"An infected computer has nothing to do with the internet."

^^ An infected computer that is connecting to a fake DNS server and having legitimate internet traffic routed to an infected computer that is pretending to be your bank or some other supposed secure website that you use, and you do not know it, IS a problem...

Sure, ignore it, give some Nigerian scammers your bank details It's just the FBI trying to take over the world, pinky.

reply to post by Djdoubt03


You could at least have a back up linux disc to boot to. I suggest Linux Mint. It's free to download.

Full OS. Free!

---------------------------------------

Originally posted by benrl
Sounds fake.

Just saying.

It does sound suspicious to me too. What better way for the gov. to link in to your computer than for you to go to their site. Yeah right, I'll take my chances on my own, thank you very much. Seems every time I turn around any more, the gov. is trying to get their grubby lil' paws in all our private business by making laws and regulations. If I have to, I'll by a new computer before I trust them. Sorry but that's the way I feel...

First, I taught Windows Server 2003 & 2008, Windows XP, Vista & 7 in college. I can tell you that this is possible. You can type ipconfig in the command line and see your general IP settings. You can also download a program called bginfo and it will display a lot of info on your desktop in the background image. This is what I use. It can be setup to run at logon.

Also, anyone that wants to really lock down their home network, you can create a "Hardware Firewall". You need a primitive desktop computer with a hard drive that is at least 10 GB. It needs to have two NIC cards. One for routing network traffic to your home network and one for incoming traffic from your internet service provider. Install a program call Smoothwall. This is by far the best firewall you could ever have at home.

Even if true, they're talking about a potential few hundred thousand when there is over 312 Million people in the U.S.

Not really the cause for alarm expressed by a few posters when you consider the very low percentage of who will be affected.

reply to post by wonhunlo


Linux mint is very good
Ubuntu is ok for a webserver.

hundred of thousends sound like million bazillions to me

reply to post by Djdoubt03


I personally have a problem with trusting the link mentioned.
Don't see why we can't deal with the problem ourselves?Computers fail everyday, it sucks yeah but we deal with it.

Originally posted by wonhunlo
reply to post by Djdoubt03

 

You could at least have a back up linux disc to boot to. I suggest Linux Mint. It's free to download.

Full OS. Free!

---------------------------------------

Actually I use Ubuntu

Originally posted by flimzytrek
reply to post by Djdoubt03

 

I personally have a problem with trusting the link mentioned.
Don't see why we can't deal with the problem ourselves?Computers fail everyday, it sucks yeah but we deal with it.

OK, ARE you infected? How can you tell?

You can't. Well, you can check your DNS settings, and your HOSTS file, but do you know how to do that? Does the average ma and pa oldperson know how to do it?

All that website does check to see if you resolve a specific Qualified Domain Name to a Valid IP address. If you happen to return an IP address of a known hacked DNS server, it will pop up with a "Oh you're infected!" message.

Then you can fix your problem. If you get an all clear, all good.

It is for people who don't understand the problem (most people here it seems) and who will go out and "buy a new PC rather than use an FBI web page"...

But hey, no big deal, if you don't trust the internet, go buy a new pc I might have to get into the business of selling cheap ones. Seems like there is a very good market for it, and it is created out of no where.

Man, I cannot believe there is so much .. and it is, it is Ignorance.. about this issue...

funny stuff, glad it doesn't affect me, well, I mean, I am glad I am not so paranoid as to not know if it affects me... I understand how DNS works.. knowledge is power, so they say..

Originally posted by Djdoubt03

Originally posted by wonhunlo
reply to post by Djdoubt03

 

You could at least have a back up linux disc to boot to. I suggest Linux Mint. It's free to download.

Full OS. Free!

---------------------------------------

Actually I use Ubuntu

Lunix + ATI video drivers have ruined it for me

But you know, you're correct (the live boot person).. in fact, anyone can download Microsoft VirtualBox, and install any linux distro onto it, then use that for anything, no infections.. no buying ne PC's..

These threads make me feel like I used to when my old man was afraid to programme the vcr incase he broke it.

This is what I see today (4/23/2012) when I try navigate to any link on their site???????

Service Unavailable. Please try again later.

For this specific issue, block these IP ranges:

64.28.176.1 - 64.28.191.255
67.210.0.1 - 67.210.15.255
77.67.83.1 - 77.67.83.255
85.255.112.1 - 85.255.127.255
93.188.160.1 - 93.188.167.255
213.109.64.1 - 213.109.79.255

No more problem.

brill