FBI to blackout Trojan-infected servers on March 8

FBI to blackout Trojan-infected servers on March 8

Personal computers infected with a Trojan that tries to redirect their browsers to malicious sites may be cut off from the Internet on March 8, an information technology site said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will unplug on March 8 the Domain Name System servers it set up to replace rogue DNS servers that sent victims to malicious sites.

A report on Infoworld said the removal of this temporary fix may affect "a substantial number" of users, as half of Fortune 500 companies and government agencies are infected with the malware.

Read more at:

www.gmanetwork.com...


Well, can we say some major upheaval in the works if this takes place on March 8. They are saying a sizable portion of Fortune 500 companies are infected, not to mention the millions of individual computers around the world.

Here is a quick test for you to see if your infected:

dns-ok.us...


So come March 8th ATS MIGHT be a ghost town.

I got the green. So, I won't be affected. Feel sorry for those who will be.

So the fbi is in the computer repair business?

Oh government... What will you waste my hard earned money on next?

reply to post by MidnightTide


Not really, I'd think most ATS users would be vigilant about protecting their PC from malware, and you need to be infected with the malware for this to affect you.

It's like this. You get infected with this malware. It changes YOUR dns server from yourisp.dns to hacker.dns so any time you try to access google, ats, email, yahoo, etc, it queries the hacker.dns for the IP address, instead of the legitimate one your ISP provides.

You have to have this on your PC for it to affect you, and you can easily revert that manually should you need.

The DNS servers they are going to block are the hackers. So you will only be cut off from the net if your DNS settings in your PC are set to point to the hackers DNS server to get an IP. And if you DO get blocked, it's good because you're obviously using the hackers DNS server to lookup IP addresses and you really don't want that.

For instance, the hacker.dns holds a record for www.mybank.com and you do all your banking online via this. The hacker.dns, instead of pointing you to 123.456.789.321 which is your banks valid IP and points you to 000.111.222.333 which is a server the hackers have setup that looks exactly like your actual Banks website.

You log in, it captures your password, and then throws some sever error or some other issue that prevents you from noticing that once logged in, it's nothing like your actual banks website (no funds, different accounts etc)...

Hackers then access your real bank, log in as you, and pilfer your loot.

You don't want that. So if you find yourself cut off from the net on that date, due to this... consider it a good thing and pray that you didn't actually access any fake websites that you rely on.

HOLY CRAP!!!!
Is this for real??
www.eweek.com...
www.eweek.com...
One of many stories says so!
Wow!
The FBI is going to take away access of privately owned computers? This is law enforcement how? Is it illegal now to have a virus infected computer? Do we need our federal tax dollars spent this way?
Or.......is this just a "false flag" type reason to test the FEDS ability to shut down the internet? The much feared internet kill switch.....IS IT MORE THAN A TEST???....did this get leaked and this is a cover that maybe ALL or a lot of internet will be shutdown on March 8?? Temporarily...just to see if they can?? That has NOTHING to do with any Trojan infection!!!

reply to post by mainidh


Actually I think a sizable potion of ATS isn't computer savvy - a thread yesterday I believe had a link that contained some malware and a few people were asking how to get rid of it.

I know many small / big businesses have tons of malware (my workplace has been hit several times from people not having enough knowledge of what to avoid)

But anyway, thanks for your explanation.

Originally posted by texas thinker
HOLY CRAP!!!!
Is this for real??
www.eweek.com...
www.eweek.com...
One of many stories says so!
Wow!
The FBI is going to take away access of privately owned computers?

No.

Imagine I sold you a phone directory. And instead of the phone numbers matching up with real names, all the numbers went to my phone which charged you $10 per call.

Now imagine the FBI comes along and takes my phone away... Suddenly you cannot connect to any number in the phone book. It's the phone book you're using that is the issue, you were given (or tricked into) using a fake phone book.

reply to post by MidnightTide


Ahh true that. I often think people here are so paranoid that they'd be up to date with most things, but you're right. Kinda scary really.

I wonder if all of those companies that are supposedly infected pay as much as we used to for anti-virus/malware protection.. I think the contract was around $50,000 a year from trendmicro..

If they are, I'd hope there's some explanations as to how so many infections go unnoticed.

Apparently these dns servers are located in ukraine and russia.I guess it was about money, taking some from the wealthiest on the long run.I'm not certain that's good news the fb eye figured it out

reply to post by mainidh


Yeah...and we have well trained private sector I-T security people that can remove malware, and it's kind from private computer systems. The FBI should only be involved with finding and arresting the perpetrators of this crime, not blocking these computers...or am I missing something?
What exactly is the governments ability to block internet access? That is what I am getting at. That is what worries me. Maybe this action is legit. Fine. But what virus might be put out there that does constitute a complete internet blackout. Just until the problem is solved right? MAYBE THEY SAY THE ATS SERVERS HAD THIS TROJAN! And any other site where people with brains question the authority that has become a ruling class no longer of the people by the people.
I.......do........not.......trust......anything.......from......the......US government......that is supposed to help us!

Originally posted by texas thinker
reply to post by mainidh

 

Yeah...and we have well trained private sector I-T security people that can remove malware, and it's kind from private computer systems. The FBI should only be involved with finding and arresting the perpetrators of this crime, not blocking these computers...or am I missing something?
What exactly is the governments ability to block internet access? That is what I am getting at. That is what worries me. Maybe this action is legit. Fine. But what virus might be put out there that does constitute a complete internet blackout. Just until the problem is solved right? MAYBE THEY SAY THE ATS SERVERS HAD THIS TROJAN! And any other site where people with brains question the authority that has become a ruling class no longer of the people by the people.
I.......do........not.......trust......anything.......from......the......US government......that is supposed to help us!

Yes you are missing something my friend. As somebody explained a few posts above, they only took over the DNS servers of the botnet. The reason why so many people might "loose their internet connection" is because they are still infected with this trojan. When these DNS server will be taken down, people still infected will still make their DNS queries to those DNS servers which are non existant.

They are not taking over people's computer and they will not shut ATS down.

reply to post by MidnightTide


thats nice, how kind of them..................................................................what are they up to?

reply to post by MidnightTide


Good, this will help convince anyone with this trojan to get it fixed properly. And I don't think this will be used extensively, at least they are trying something new instead of going after one hacker at a time, IMHO.

Originally posted by texas thinker
HOLY CRAP!!!!
Is this for real??
www.eweek.com...
www.eweek.com...
One of many stories says so!
Wow!
The FBI is going to take away access of privately owned computers? This is law enforcement how? Is it illegal now to have a virus infected computer? Do we need our federal tax dollars spent this way?
Or.......is this just a "false flag" type reason to test the FEDS ability to shut down the internet? The much feared internet kill switch.....IS IT MORE THAN A TEST???....did this get leaked and this is a cover that maybe ALL or a lot of internet will be shutdown on March 8?? Temporarily...just to see if they can?? That has NOTHING to do with any Trojan infection!!!

Are you my identical twin? Did I find you!?!
We think so much alike, I couldn't help but say that.

IMHO, it's just a ploy to one day finally get to their final ''destination''!

----
Good thread OP! SnF! Glad you brought this to light.

Install a reputible and tested anti virus / anti malware program.

I run three individual programs which update daily, sometimes several times per day and collectively keeps me safe.


There are several free ones which work perfectly.

I have one site which I would highly recommend and also two or three free programs I particulary use which has kept me safe, and if anyone wants the info just u2u me.

reply to post by OldCurmudgeon


Just make sure you only run ONE antivirus on your system. More than one and you run the risk of infection.

March 8th is during the Holiday of Purim

A Holiday with a dubious history.

revoltoftheplebs.wordpress.com...

Good luck, all.


EDIT: Take the link with a dash (bucket) of salt. As has been pointed out to me, there is at least one gross exaggeration found there.

reply to post by OldCurmudgeon

I run three individual programs which update daily, sometimes several times per day and collectively keeps me safe.

It's the places you go and the links you click on.
I do not run any AV. I maintain the network where I work. I do not allow any AV on any of the machines. It tends to create problems with some of the sites we need to go to.

If you go to legit sites and use common sense with the spam sent to you, you should not have any poroblems.

Three programs is on the paranoid side of the tracks.

Also to those who think it's some government ploy:

If they (FBI) knew about the problem and could prevent it but didn't you would be pissed about how they were in the pockets of big business (AV companies).

They can't win either way.

reply to post by mainidh


Havent had a major computer virus infection on four years. Knock on wood