Hundreds of thousands of computers will soon risk to lose the Internet connection because of the unpleasant aftermaths of an already disbanded on-line threat known as DNSChanger. But Google will try to prevent the massive connection cut-off warning the infected systems’ owners before it is too late.
DNSChanger is a malware that tinkers with the standard DNS settings of the PC Internet connection to redirect traffic to malicious sites: before being put to rest thanks to an international effort on November 2011, the malicious code managed to infect something like more than 4 million computers worldwide.
The non-profit organization “Internet Systems Consortium” succeeded in seizing the malicious DNS servers used by the malware, replacing their functionality with a “safe” counterpart controlled by the FBI. It is estimated that 500,000 computers have a still-working Internet connection thanks to those replacement servers.
The connection cut-off for these computers will happen on July 9, when the FBI plans to shut down the temporary servers. The campaign orchestrated by Googe will try to reach the PCs still affected by DNSChanger and warn their owners, giving advices on how to remove the malware and restore a clean Internet connection.
Google said that it will try to contact the infected PCs by displaying messages to users visiting its many web sites and on-line services: the messages will be in the users’ native language, a plus that should prove effective for the campaign success considering that only half of the aforementioned 500,000 compromised PCs speak English natively.
Source: Ars Technica.
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