DNSChanger Virus

[Quick_Nick]

http://news.discovery.com/tech/dns-changer-fbi-warning-july-9-doomsday-120426.html
DNSChanger is a virus that, in short, redirects addresses to spam.
The temporary solution to this problem will be taken down in...a few minutes actually. Leaving quite a few computers unable to use the Internet normally.
All the news article say you can check your computer at www.dns-ok.us however that site is DOWN. You can check at www.dns-ok.de , www.dns-ok.fr , and other language sites, but all you need to look for is a green banner to know you're safe.

 

[Andy44]

Well, my clock reads 12:04 and I'm still here.

It feels like that scene in War Games where the general is talking to some Air Force airman as he watches the simulated nuke strike and asks him if he's still alive...

 

[Cairan]

Darn, now I have to put that DVD and watch it!

 

[Pipcard]

I hope and pray that my (or any orbinaut's) computer isn't affected. It's unlikely for my computer.

 

[Quick_Nick]

The chances of being infected are low. It's just kind of interesting/significant news.

 

[Scav]

The chances of being infected are low. It's just kind of interesting/significant news.

It's low because the DNS is actually a very robust array of servers. Ideally, two or more could go down, and you'd never notice an interruption of service.

 

[Spacethingy]

We had one of these once, I reckon, when we first got the net in our house.

Noobish days, our response was "Ah that's a shame, Google just seems to come up with adverts now, instead of webpages..." if I remember correctly... :facepalm:

 

[garyw]

It's low because the DNS is actually a very robust array of servers. Ideally, two or more could go down, and you'd never notice an interruption of service.

True and not true. Whilst the root servers are spread all over the globe if your ISP is a little lazy and only has one and that goes down.....

 

[Urwumpe]

The function of the Virus is a tiny bit different as many here seem to believe because of the poor explanations in the media:

The virus is spread by infected pornographic files only from far-more-than-just-dubious sources, as far as we know today. Most of us really should not be concerned.

The virus does not infect your ISPs DNS server, but the information in your Windows or Mac OS X computer, which DNS server it should be using. Instead of using your normal DNS servers, it redirected you to modified DNS servers that replaced normal advertisements of websites by advertisements, that had been ordered by the criminal estonian company that produced the virus and purchased the DNS servers. The operators made estimated $14 million profit by this hijacking of advertisement space.

The DNS servers of the producer of the virus have been seized and turned into normal DNS servers until today by FBI operation Ghostclick, today they have been shut down. if your DNS information has not yet been fixed by removing the malware and resetting the data to your ISPs standard (or your local standard of using the DNS server of your local router), you can't use the internet properly because many services based on DNS will be unavailable. And you can still access the internet... if you know the IP numbers.

Again: The DNS system is still safe. The DNS servers of the criminal company are not.

 

[garyw]

And you can still access the internet... if you know the IP numbers.

Nslookup 208.67.222.222 which is the IP address of an OpenDNS server. Google DNS can also be used.

Personally I prefer opendns in place of my ISP's DNS servers as they are more reliable.

 

[N_Molson]

operation Ghostclick

A nice name :yes:

 

[orb]

Well, my resolv.conf file hasn't changed.

 

[Delta4]

Reminds me of askthecrew*net. That one killed my laptop. I had thought it was just something wrong with Google. :facepalm: