Thousands May Lose Internet In July

[Jollygoodfellow]

I checked mine by going to the site listed below.

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS MAY LOSE INTERNET IN JULY

For computer users, a few mouse clicks could mean the difference between staying online and losing Internet connections this July.

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, http://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 realise 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.

Now, said Grasso, "the full court press is on to get people to address this problem." And it's up to computer users to check their PCs.

This is what happened:

Hackers infected a network of probably more than 570,000 computers worldwide. They took advantage of vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Windows operating system to install malicious software on the victim computers. This turned off antivirus updates and changed the way the computers reconcile website addresses behind the scenes on the Internet's domain name system.

The DNS system is a network of servers that translates a web address — such as www.ap.org — into the numerical addresses that computers use. Victim computers were reprogrammed to use rogue DNS servers owned by the attackers. This allowed the attackers to redirect computers to fraudulent versions of any website.

The hackers earned profits from advertisements that appeared on websites that victims were tricked into visiting. The scam netted the hackers at least $14 million, according to the FBI. It also made thousands of computers reliant on the rogue servers for their Internet browsing.

When the FBI and others arrested six Estonians last November, the agency replaced the rogue servers with Vixie's clean ones. Installing and running the two substitute servers for eight months is costing the federal government about $87,000.

The number of victims is hard to pinpoint, but the FBI believes that on the day of the arrests, at least 568,000 unique Internet addresses were using the rogue servers. Five months later, FBI estimates that the number is down to at least 360,000. The US has the most, about 85,000, federal authorities said.

Other countries with more than 20,000 each include Italy, India, England and Germany. Smaller numbers are online in Spain, France, Canada, China and Mexico.

Vixie said most of the victims are probably individual home users, rather than corporations that have technology staffs who routinely check the computers.

FBI officials said they organised an unusual system to avoid any appearance of government intrusion into the Internet or private computers. And while this is the first time the FBI used it, it won't be the last.

"This is the future of what we will be doing," said Eric Strom, a unit chief in the FBI's Cyber Division. "Until there is a change in legal system, both inside and outside the United States, to get up to speed with the cyber problem, we will have to go down these paths, trail-blazing if you will, on these types of investigations."

Now, he said, every time the agency gets near the end of a cyber case, "we get to the point where we say, how are we going to do this, how are we going to clean the system" without creating a bigger mess than before.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/tech-news/a/-/technology/13487703/hundreds-of-thousands-to-lose-internet-in-july

[Mike S]

Just another example of how the US Government wants to control the internet ...... they want to be able to not only tell you what you can do on the web but watch you while you do it ..... they want everyone to feel sorry for them and cry "OH please save us Big Brother .... no matter that rights we have to give up .... only you can save us from ourselves" ...... the US won't be happy until they control the whole world wide web so they can spy on everyone ...... and it just might happen in the next 4 years .....

Edited April 21, 2012 by Mike S

[i am bob]

One of the reports I still get from my Internet Security days says it all...

More people have internet problems thanks to the government and their messing things up than some hacker dopping bibs into their computers...

This was from last June.

[Call me bubba]

can this be verifed by the site www.snopes.com ??

:nudie: the definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation. :tiphat:

[Mike S]

Snopes may be good for a lot of things but anything related to the US government ... forget it ... .the owners and those running the site are very opinionated when it comes to that ...... and no I will not go into any detail as this is not a political board (thank god) ..... but there are forums out there you can search for and find any answers you seek .... :tiphat:

[Jim Sibbick]

It doesn't even sound logical.

So lets say I am affected as per the story.

I am in another country other than the USA.

They are saying I have the phsyical capability to access the internet through a computer in the USA. That means I have to be routed through who knows how many other computers on the way. But when they turn off the computers in the USA in July, I will no longer have access to the internet.

It sounds silly just typing it.

Regards: Jim

[i am bob]

Part of the problem is that DCWG put out a really poorly written artical about the virus and now everybody is running around like chickens with their heads cut off!

In layman's terms: The virus takes control of your computer's ability to access DNS and leaves it open for hacking purposes. The American government allowed a couple servers from an anonymous department to be used to counteract any computers in the US infected until people either cleaned their computers themselves OR their anti-virus / malware software was updated and cleaned out the infection. The government now believes that this should have been completed and want the servers back for government use. For anyone who haven't done this, they will just need to correct their DNS pointers. This whole report was aimed at only those few people who use internet but don't have an updated (or any) anti-virus.

Simplest way to avoid these issues? Use Linux!

:tiphat:

[earthdome]

Simplest way to avoid these issues? Use Linux!

For servers I am a FreeBSD guy by default unless I need linux for a specific application.

For my personal computer I have been a Mac guy for 8 years or so (Mac OS X is based on FreeBSD) but Apple has become so paternal that I have bought my last Mac.

I have a small 10" UMPC running lubuntu I use for travel to the Philippines. Only cost $200 and wouldn't be a big deal if it got lost or stolen.

Next laptop I get will run linux if I can avoid the Windows tax. Never been a big fan of MS business practices.

My family has finally realized that although I have been using and programming computers for almost 30 years I can't help them much with their home computers.

Why? Because in all those years I have rarely used a computer with MS-DOS or later Windows.

Recently for work they issued me a Dell laptop with Windows. But I only use that for MS Outlook and Communicator.

Last January my workplace changed to a ROWE (Results Oriented Work Environment), where it no longer matters when you work or where you do your work from as long as you get results.

In theory I could still work full time from anywhere in the world as long as I could make/receive US phone calls, do remote teleconference/video, etc.

This change is making my last year before retirement much more flexible for taking care of things I need to do before the big move.

[i am bob]

For servers I am a FreeBSD guy by default unless I need linux for a specific application. For my personal computer I have been a Mac guy for 8 years or so (Mac OS X is based on FreeBSD) but Apple has become so paternal that I have bought my last Mac. I have a small 10" UMPC running lubuntu I use for travel to the Philippines. Only cost $200 and wouldn't be a big deal if it got lost or stolen. Next laptop I get will run linux if I can avoid the Windows tax. Never been a big fan of MS business practices.

I'm kind of bad as I always lump FreeBSD in with Linux - even though I know it's not. I could work with either as both are much better than MS. And I agree 100% about Apple... I used to be a big fan of theirs starting with 9 and through into 10 but not any more. They now keep reminding me why I don't like MS - the money grab! I have an Acer Inspire One 10" dual boot with Windows 7 Basic (preloaded) and Ubuntu 12.04 that I will be bringing to the Philippines with me as well. The only reason I am leaving Windows on it is that I need it for my telephone to Canada. I have a little toy called Freephoneline that works as a free SIP phone within Canada - and it will follow me to the Philippines. So instead of buying a Magic Jack, I have a free one instead. Unfortunately it only works on Windows and Mac to this point. Maybe I"ll get a used one and use that strictly as my telephone. Of course I still have my laptop with Ubuntu 12.04 but it is getting ready to die, the battery is about done and the power supply uses a ton of electricity compared to my Acer.

[earthdome]

For servers I am a FreeBSD guy by default unless I need linux for a specific application. For my personal computer I have been a Mac guy for 8 years or so (Mac OS X is based on FreeBSD) but Apple has become so paternal that I have bought my last Mac. I have a small 10" UMPC running lubuntu I use for travel to the Philippines. Only cost $200 and wouldn't be a big deal if it got lost or stolen. Next laptop I get will run linux if I can avoid the Windows tax. Never been a big fan of MS business practices.

I'm kind of bad as I always lump FreeBSD in with Linux - even though I know it's not. I could work with either as both are much better than MS. And I agree 100% about Apple... I used to be a big fan of theirs starting with 9 and through into 10 but not any more. They now keep reminding me why I don't like MS - the money grab! I have an Acer Inspire One 10" dual boot with Windows 7 Basic (preloaded) and Ubuntu 12.04 that I will be bringing to the Philippines with me as well. The only reason I am leaving Windows on it is that I need it for my telephone to Canada. I have a little toy called Freephoneline that works as a free SIP phone within Canada - and it will follow me to the Philippines. So instead of buying a Magic Jack, I have a free one instead. Unfortunately it only works on Windows and Mac to this point. Maybe I"ll get a used one and use that strictly as my telephone. Of course I still have my laptop with Ubuntu 12.04 but it is getting ready to die, the battery is about done and the power supply uses a ton of electricity compared to my Acer.

I used to go to alot of software conferences related to open source software. 10-12 years ago half the developers there were using Mac Power Book's. With the maturity of linux on the desktop I bet that has switched to 50% linux.

Maintaining a US phone number and an inexpensive or free way to call the US is one of those things on my long list of things to research and resolve before the move.

I need to start putting together my punch list of things to get done prior to the move, during the move, and after I arrive. Once I get a good first draft I will most likely share it on this forum as a blog post to get feedback from others to further refine it.