FBI will shutdown the Internet on March 8

The Internet could go dark for millions of users as early as March 8 because of a virus that has corrupted computers in more than 100 countries. Last year, authorities in Estonia apprehended six men believed responsible for creating a malicious computer script called the DNSChanger Trojan. Once set loose on the Web, the worm corrupted computers in upwards of 100 countries, including an estimated 500,000 in America alone.

The primary impact of this infection is that it caused web surfers to be sent to fraudulent websites by changing what is called the DNS settings on compromised computers.The Domain Name System (DNS) is the backbone of the Internet's address scheme and DNS servers are special computers around the world that act as Internet traffic cops providing directions to websites that you wish to visit.

Though the FBI has shut down the DNSChanger network and put up surrogate servers, they warned the solution was only temporary - and the court-ordered deadline is March 8. When the FBI pinched this group, if they had shut down the rogue DNS servers, everyone that was infected would have instantly been cut off from the Internet so the FBI chose a different strategy.They decided to get a court order allowing them to replace the rogue DNS servers with legitimate stand-ins so that all the infected computers wouldn't get cut off without warning giving them time to get the word out.

Both Windows and MacOS users are at risk for this infection because it exploits your browser, not your operating system. If you are somewhat technical, you can do a self-check of your computer to make sure you're not infected by comparing your computer's DNS setting to the list of rogue DNS servers:

85.255.112.0 through 85.255.127.255

67.210.0.0 through 67.210.15.255

93.188.160.0 through 93.188.167.255

77.67.83.0 through 77.67.83.255

213.109.64.0 through 213.109.79.255

64.28.176.0 through 64.28.191.25

The FBI has published a pretty decent guide to performing the self-check here. If you are infected by the DNSChanger Trojan, the FBI reminds us that this malware also disables security updates which could have further exposed you to other malware.

Source: The Hacker News

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Vodafone confirms role in Egypt’s cellular, Internet blackout

An executive at London-based Vodafone Group PLC explained Friday morning that it did indeed have a role in the phone and Internet blackout affecting Egypt since Thursday night, confirming speculation that the firm had cooperated with the regime to close off protesters' communications.

Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao said that because the order by Egyptian authorities appeared to be in line with the nation's laws, the company was "obligated" to comply.

Egypt, which has been under a declared state of "emergency" for decades, long ago passed a series of security provisions that were later mirrored in post-9/11 powers assumed by leaders in the US. Egypt's provisions, however, went much further.

The Egyptian government's order to shut down applied to all mobile phone operators and Internet service providers in the country. A graphic depicting Internet traffic to and from the country showed a dramatic and almost complete drop-off starting Thursday morning.

Some land-line service, however, was reportedly still functioning by late Friday. Sporadic reports of working DSL connections surfaced by late Friday as well, and a French Internet service provider had begun offering free dial-up access to Egyptians.

Rumors that neighboring Syria had cut off its Internet access as well surfaced on Friday morning, butfollow-up reports found no evidence this was the case.

Vodafone was for years the Egyptian government's partner in building and maintaining the regime's official website and network infrastructure.

Protesters on Friday destroyed Vodafone stores in Cairo, among other locations tied to the ruling regime, according to reports by Al Jazeera English.

In the wake of Iran's "green revolution," the relationship between Western technology providers and the country's oppressive regime became painfully apparent when The Wall Street Journalrevealed that Siemens AG and Nokia Corp. aided the development of a digital censorship apparatus.

"If you sell networks, you also, intrinsically, sell the capability to intercept any communication that runs over them," a spokesman for the two firms' joint venture told the paper. He suggested the regime's "monitoring center," which even allowed deep-packet inspection and information tampering through Internet back-doors, was a standard part of a larger telecom contract with Iran.

It was unclear whether Vodafone's government-sponsored network worked similarly in Egypt.

Raw Story's requests for comment sent to Vodafone's corporate relations arm did not trigger a reply.

Vodafone Group PLC owns a 45 percent stake in US communications provider Verizon Wireless.

Source: The Raw Story

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