FBI to blackout Trojan-infected servers on March 8

gmanetwork.com

11 points·zotz··4 comments

It's kind of a misleading headline. The FBI is turning off DNS servers that it set up, so that people affected by trojans that hijack DNS queries and send them to specific rogue DNS servers (which the FBI seized) could continue to use their computers.

Nothing wrong with this - people need their computers cleaned up and DNS settings fixed - but it's going to be an unpleasant day for IT workers, for sure.

Yeah, bad title. The DoJ has been sending letters to the owners of the IP addresses that are connecting to the formerly rogue DNS servers. If the companies don't do anything about it by March 8 it seems reasonable for turn off the servers, though they should hold on to the DNS server IP addresses so no one else can use them.

Here is the back story:

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/november/malware_110911

Check if your IPs are infected and how to clean:

https://forms.fbi.gov/check-to-see-if-your-computer-is-using...

I'd worry more about all the home users. If they can't work out how to get back online (without google to help them) they'll end up buying a new computer or paying an expensive repair bill.

I was surprised to realize how many DNS requests originating out of Fortune 500 companies were being handled by the FBI. I was unaware of it till now.

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