Christian Brown
Member
- Sep 10, 2011
- 135
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Surfing the web might not be possible Monday if Internet users have a computer infected with a virus that redirects users to fraudulent websites.
When a person clicks on a link on the Internet, things called DNS servers, or domain name servers, take the request and find the domain that goes along with the page you’re trying to find using the computer language that lets computers talk to one another, said Marc Hyde, owner of The Computer Guy, a computer repair shop in Gastonia.
Some people got clever and realized that they could use this process to infect a computer with something other than the server you’re trying to reach.
“Your computer can be fooled into using the DNS servers of the person who set up this virus,” Hyde said.
Hackers hailing from Estonia
Hackers started an online advertising scam that infected more than 570,000 computers worldwide, according to The Associated Press. The FBI took down the servers of these hackers, who were operating out of Estonia. But the hackers had already downloaded malware — software intended to damage or disable computers and computer systems — onto more than half a million computers. If the FBI shut down those servers being used to control computers, people would lose their Internet service.
The FBI put up two Internet servers free of viruses to take over for the corrupt servers.
“But the government’s going to have to shut it down,” Hyde said.
That shutdown happens at 12:01 a.m. Monday, leaving anyone with an infected computer out in the virtual cold.
More than 277,000 computers worldwide, including about 64,000 computers in the U.S., are estimated to have the virus, The Associated Press reported.
How to tell if your computer is infected
Finding out if a computer is infected is easy. The FBI has set up a free, secure site that will run a diagnostic test and see if the virus resides on the computer.
“And we can remove that,” Hyde said. “Generally some good cleanup tools are also available for free.”
The Computer Guy’s website lists free products that can help people keep their computers virus free.
So far, no one has contacted the business about having the virus.
“I expect that after this transition takes place, we may have some,” Hyde said. But now is the time to take action on it while you still have the ability.
Hyde urged people to check out their computer systems now while the FBI’s clean servers still allow Internet access to infected computers until Monday.
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