Doomsday Internet Virus

FinsnFur · July 09, 2012, 05:50:51 AM

July 9 could be doomsday for your Internet access!
A computer virus originated by a bunch of hackers in Estonia infected hundreds of thousands of computers in the U.S. alone.
The ring was cracked by the FBI earlier this year. The purpose was to gather data by using other computers.
In other words, your computer may have been used as a gathering arm for this hacker and you may not even know it.
The FBI has built a special virus detector, and all you have to do is click the URL link next to where it says "English." It's about halfway down the following page in the top left if the table grid.

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

It runs a test and if a green background shows up, you're in the clear. But if it's red, you need to take your computer in for professional service.

KySongDog · July 09, 2012, 07:20:03 AM

If today is doomsday, isn't it a little late to be trying to go to a web site to check my status?

But since I can read this page I must be OK.

Hawks Feather · July 09, 2012, 08:25:22 AM

I got the GREEN IP message.

Jerry

FinsnFur · July 09, 2012, 05:40:09 PM

Quote from: Semp on July 09, 2012, 07:20:03 AM
If today is doomsday, isn't it a little late to be trying to go to a web site to check my status?

But since I can read this page I must be OK.

Your quick Johnny

I thought of that too, but I just got word of it this morning myself, and I thought well I'll post it anyway, cause some of you guys talk to each other even when your not on here, and if someone gets hit maybe the message could get relayed and they'd have a place to start at leasting knowing what it was in preparation for repairing it.

iahntr · July 09, 2012, 09:52:44 PM

Funny this topic came up. I was just gonna ask you Jim, I bought a new lap top a while back and it came with McAFee antivirus on it so I just decided to use it for free until it expired. Well the time has come I need new antivirus, and I really don't feel like renewing McAFee. Is there anything new out there? Or whats the best deal for me to get right now?
Feel free to remove my post and start a new one, or pm me, or whatever ya feel like doing.

FinsnFur · July 09, 2012, 10:22:38 PM

I've swore by PC Security Shield for years. Used it on every machine in the house for years also, and have never had a lick of trouble for years. (knocking on wood)

I've been hearing more and more complaints from different folks about their customer support making their computers worse or not being able to understand them on the phone during support issues etc.
One of my 3 machine licenses was approaching it's expiration a few months ago and I set out to find a new one. I read reviews for two days, literally...and settled on either BitDefenderÂ© or KaperskyÂ©
They were both basically identical on the outside, nothing really to speak of made one any different then the other. BitdefenderÂ© had a damn cool logo though, So I bought it.
I was on the phone, in their forum, and scanning their site 24 hours later looking for a refund procedure. The software sucked so bad I cant believe they were able to even market it. It bogged my machines down do bad, that surfing on the net was pretty much out of the question unless you had all day.
Their forum was literally loaded with customers complaints about the same thing.

That night I went back and bought Kasperskys Anti Virus, and ended up putting it on all four machines here. Best investment I've made in a while. I'm more then pleased with this software and would recommend it to anyone.
It's not invasive, or over run in anyway. AND to top it all off....Kaspersky is actually the source that most major antivirus software get their update source files from.
What that means is the biggest majority of antivirus software companies out there today are selling their allegedly own software which is actually sourced from Kaspersky's data files.

Oh and Bitdefender did finally give me a full refund a couple days later when I told them their software sucked and that I bought Kaspersky instead.

KySongDog · July 10, 2012, 06:06:32 AM

I am running Norton Internet Security 2012 on two machines and have had no problems with it. PC Mag rated it as the top security software. A few years ago Norton was junk and a resource hog. But it seems they got their act together. Worth a look anyways.

riverboss · July 10, 2012, 04:27:59 PM

Im leary anytime the Goverment wants me to click on anything.

HaMeR · July 10, 2012, 06:23:28 PM

Been using Trend Micro for the last 5 years or so. Computer runs purdy darn fast & is always protected so I'm guessing it's good.

nastygunz · July 10, 2012, 08:29:40 PM

Quote from: riverboss on July 10, 2012, 04:27:59 PM
Im leary anytime the Goverment wants me to click on anything.
[/quote

I THINK THE FBI IS UP TO SOMETHING SNEAKY

iahntr · July 10, 2012, 10:24:36 PM

Thanks all.
So Jim, did you go with the Anti Virus, or one of the Security packages?
and I see it's like $59.95 a year on there website, or Amazon has it for like
$17.95 for 1 year, 3 pc's. I'll admit I don't think I've bought anything
off Amazon before, any reason to not go that route ??

FinsnFur · July 11, 2012, 05:18:17 AM

Yeah I bought the Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012
I've bought a lot of stuff off Amazon over the years. You'll have no problems with them what so ever.

I didnt realize you could buy software like this through them though, seems kinda strange since everything they sell comes from different distributors and certain ones get bigger volume discounts etc, and therefore are able to sell things cheaper...but THIS is coming straight from Kaspersky

I want to make usre it's the full version.

I just looked up Microsoft Office 2010 on Amazon and it's not any cheaper there then it is at Walmart

HaMeR · July 11, 2012, 03:02:19 PM

Quote from: FinsnFur on July 11, 2012, 05:18:17 AM
Yeah I bought the Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012
I've bought a lot of stuff off Amazon over the years. You'll have no problems with them what so ever.

I didnt realize you could buy software like this through them though, seems kinda strange since everything they sell comes from different distributors and certain ones get bigger volume discounts etc, and therefore are able to sell things cheaper...but THIS is coming straight from Kaspersky
I want to make usre it's the full version.

I just looked up Microsoft Office 2010 on Amazon and it's not any cheaper there then it is at Walmart

I would still rather pay shipping to Amazon than buy gas to go to walmart.

iahntr · July 11, 2012, 10:42:10 PM

Well here's what I was referring to.
http://www.amazon.com/Kaspersky-Anti-Virus-2012-3-Users/dp/B0056CZATI
Just happened to be one of the first few things that came up when I Googled Kaspersky.

FinsnFur · July 12, 2012, 05:27:25 AM

Thats definitely it Scott. It's like 70% off too. I dont get it.

I just looked up some more software like Office, Quicken, Winzip, Photoshop, and nothing is close to the cut rate of that.
I probably woulda got it through them myself if I had seen it, but I sure dont understand it.

yotefever · July 18, 2012, 09:15:32 PM

So has anyone heard of someone affected with the virus? I haven't heard of any, I guess it's a good thing I didn't waste the gov time scanning my putor.

FinsnFur · July 18, 2012, 10:40:23 PM

The government didnt take the time to scan anyones site. They set up their own site to scan sites for end users because they feared the virus was going to be bigger then anticipated, and cripple internet usage globally.
Victims of the virus originally required assistance because the virus had changed settings on their PCs, diverting Internet traffic through rogue servers that showed them advertisements. Police had shut those down in November.

Infected machines would have been unable to access the Web unless they were repaired, so authorities put the backup system in place as a stopgap.

As of Sunday July 8th the number of machines using the clean servers was down to 211,000, with about 42,000 in the United States, according to the FBI.
That is a fraction of the world's more than 1 billion Internet users, according to Luis Corrons Granel, technical director with the research lab of anti-virus software maker Panda Security. "Not a big impact," he said.

The number of users who lost Internet service was likely far fewer than the 211,000 who accessed the temporary server on Sunday, said Hypponen, of F Secure.
That is because many Internet service providers, including AT&T Inc and Time Warner Cable, set up their own servers so their customers with infected machines could continue to access the Internet.

"It's the 9th of July, and the Internet has not exploded into bits and pieces," remarked one Twitter user.

The United States has charged seven people with orchestrating the worldwide Internet fraud. Six were arrested in Estonia, while the seventh, who was living in Russia, is still at large. Estonia has extradited two of the men to New York, where they appeared in Manhattan federal court.