Internet service shutdown Monday

[Tourney64]

If you want to keep your Internet service then let the FBI scan your computer for malware that will be turned loose on Monday. Some Internet providers like (NBC) owned Comcast will help you also. So, do you trust the current administration to do the right thing? Smells very fishy.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/the-fbi ... revent-it/

[natsb88]

Actually, the FBI isn't shutting anybody's internet off.

Here's the simple version: When this malware was installed, it set infected computers to access the internet through a proxy server, meaning when you request a site like google.com, your request is routed to the proxy server, the proxy server retrieves the content, and then sends it back to your computer. The proxy server was basically a middle man, and allowed the malware creators to reroute traffic to overload certain cites, attach additional malware to content sent to infected computers, to scan traffic for personal information, etc.

When the FBI seized the malicious servers, they realized that hundreds of thousands of infected computers were accessing the internet through this proxy server. If they simply shut it down, without first fixing the infected systems, those hundreds of thousands of machines would be unable to access the internet, and the users would have no idea why. So instead, they swapped the malicious servers with clean servers as a temporary fix, to allow people time to clean their infected systems and get rid of the proxy server settings, so they could access the internet normally (using their ISP's servers instead of the proxy server).

So all the FBI is doing now is pulling the plug on their temporary clean proxy server. If you had the malware but removed it, you are already accessing the internet normally. If you have the malware and haven't removed it, your computer will continue to try to access the internet through the proxy server, which won't be there anymore, so the connection will fail. It's not like the FBI is intentionally blocking the internet to your specific computer, it's simply that the proxy server your computer was (wrongly) relying on won't be there anymore. All you have to do remove the malware and proxy server settings, and you'll be back on the internet through your ISP's servers.

This statement:

If you want to keep your Internet service then let the FBI scan your computer for malware that will be turned loose on Monday

is completely false.

There are a lot of fishy things the government does with the internet that are cause for suspicion. This, IMO, isn't one of them.

[Rosco]

Thanks for the Info Nate we need to believe that occasionally the Gov is there to help

[Beau]

.

so what do we do to keep our computers up ?



.

[Engineer]

.

so what do we do to keep our computers up ?



.

Take the blue pill.

[Beau]

ok I took the blue pill now what ?
I don`t think walking around with 3 long legs will do anything
for my computer.

[Engineer]

ok I took the blue pill now what ?
I don`t think walking around with 3 long legs will do anything
for my computer.

Sorry, the blue pill only works on laptops.

Seriously though...download Avast antivirus and run a system check. If you don't have the bug they're looking for, you're good to go.

[fb101]

Won't regular anitvirus do this?
trend PC, symantec, Mcafee, ??????

[Tourney64]

Instructions to manually or automatically check are on the Dcwg.org web site. This web site was contracted by the FBI. Mcafee also has something available on their web site to check your computer.

Sorry about my original post that was definitely inaccurate.

[Engineer]

Won't regular anitvirus do this?
trend PC, symantec, Mcafee, ??????

Any decent antivirus should work. I recommended Avast because its free and seems to work well.

[Beau]

I heard that having 2 or more antiviruses is worse than not having any.

YES OR NO you are the computer brains.

I just know how to bang on it to get to the web site I want.

[Engineer]

I heard that having 2 or more antiviruses is worse than not having any.

Most likely true. I hate dealing with just one anti-virus program. With two of them, the problems could be exponential...which is the main reason I'd be scared to be a polygamist.

YES OR NO you are the computer brains.

No I'm not! I also don't know how to drywall ceilings, and I'm completely useless if you need help with anything else involving hard physical labor or people who can't memorize control-C and control-V.

[natsb88]

I heard that having 2 or more antiviruses is worse than not having any.

YES OR NO you are the computer brains.

I just know how to bang on it to get to the web site I want.

You can have multiple programs installed to runs scans (meaning the program is only open if you manually start it and initiate a scan, and closes completely when you exit), but you don't want to have multiple programs doing active monitoring (running in the background all the time). Sometimes one will see the other as a potentially unwanted program and attempt to block it, sometimes the firewalls and download scanners will interfere with each other, and at the very least, it will slow your computer way down.

[Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay]

ok I took the blue pill now what ?
I don`t think walking around with 3 long legs will do anything
for my computer.

Only if you are in the internet porn industry.

[fansubs_ca]

CIRA (The organization that runs the .ca namespace) also has a checker for the malware:

http://www.cira.ca/news/news-releases/d ... r-checker/

Basically there is a list of known infected computers (because all the infected ones have been
accessing the proxy servers and could thus be logged) so when you access the site it checks
against the list of IPs that known infected computers are at. Basically it doesn't really "scan"
anything per se, it just check if you are on the "known infected" list.

As expected my computer comes up clean, probably helps that I run a hardware firewall/NAT,
turn off java for most of my web browsing (the main exception I make is for goolge sites
like youtube or google groups or if I go to archive.org), never open attachments, and never
install all those plug ins that some sites want you to.

Of course I occasionally found that a link I follow from coinflation to a news site takes me to
an error page, took me a while before I figured out it was from java being turned off, it looks
more like their server is down. I eventually found a more roundabout way of viewing the
article text without turning on java. A few extra steps are involved, if anyone wants to know
what I do just ask. Ironically the process I take keeps me from seeing the ads on their site,
had they just used normal HTML and put the ads in GIFs (animated or still) I could avoid the
extra steps and their ads would get seen. Can you say marketing backfire?

[henrysmedford]

CIRA (The organization that runs the .ca namespace) also has a checker for the malware:

http://www.cira.ca/news/news-releases/d ... r-checker/

I got the green OK,

Snapz Pro XScreenSnapz003.jpg (120.94 KiB) Viewed 476 times

[moparal7]

http://www.latimes.com/business/technol ... 8111.story This includes a link to check your computer.

[John_doe]

If you want to keep your Internet service then let the FBI scan your computer for malware that will be turned loose on Monday. Some Internet providers like (NBC) owned Comcast will help you also. So, do you trust the current administration to do the right thing? Smells very fishy.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/the-fbi ... revent-it/

they can't even do the wrong thing right. let alone the right thing right.


y2k anyone?

[Beau]

well this Monday so I guess I`am ok.

[NHsorter]

well this Monday so I guess I`am ok.

Yeah, that was my preferred method of testing as well!

[RichardPenny43]

Whew!
I was worried that I would have to spend two hours on the phone with Comcast

[Tourney64]

Anyone find they were infected by the malware? I guess they won't be answering this post if they didn't get it fixed before Monday.