FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Indiana’s NewsCenter) – Internet users around the world could be blocked from getting on the web if they do not take care of a virus lurking in their systems.
It is a warning being sent around the world and here in the United States from the FBI. The virus, which was created a few years ago by Estonian nationals, is a piece of malware called DNS Changer. DNS stands for domain name system. The virus worked by rerouting computer users to manipulated Estonian servers, as opposed to taking them to the servers they subscribe to from their internet service providers. From there, instead of seeing the intended website, advertising would appear. Then, the Estonian nationals could make money.
As a response to the scam, the FBI set up its own servers to prevent computer users from going to the Estonian manipulated ones. Recently however, the FBI has announced that they will shut down their temporary servers July 9. As a result, holders of the virus will not be able to get on the web.
John Kaufeld, an online marketing expert at IPFW, says that while the estimates of infected computers range from 300,000 to 4 million around the world, all computer users should take a few minutes to find out if they’re infected. Kaufeld says that check needs to be made before July 9.
“You're just going to be kind of stuck right there because you're not going to be able to get out to the internet. So, you've got this sort of double-edged problem where all the information out there to fix it is there online, but you can't get there right now.”
Kaufeld reminds users that the Estonians were not after personal information, but not being able to get to the web at all might be just as frustrating.
“It's not going to steal your banking information. It's not going to steal your personal information. What's going to wrong, is in the middle of the summer, you're going to fire up your computer and try to get to the internet, and you won't be able to.”
To perform a system check, go to the link titled “DNS Virus Check” under the related links section on this page.
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