Summary: This DNS Changer Check-Up gave a green light to the vast majority of the world's computers (Credit: http://dns-ok.us/) As far as I can tell, the impact of the FBI pulling the plug on the servers set up to provide temporary domain-name service to computers infected by the DNSChanger malware was pretty low. Johannes Ullrich, chief research officer at the SANS Institute told CNET's Elinor Mills that "we haven't seen a single report" of someone losing Internet access." He called the issue "hype." But Trend Micro Vice President Tom Kellerman says a concerted effort of law enforcement, Internet service providers and security companies successfully warned consumers to fix infected computers before the deadline. In a podcast recorded 16 hours after the servers were taken down (scroll down to listen), Kellerman said: The preventative efforts of the FBI, security companies and ISPs "were successful in limiting the contagion and the effects of this server shutdown that would have originally impacted millions of people.He called it a "testament to the public private partnership of information sharing between the seurity vendors, Internet service providers and law enforcement agencies to prevent mass outages and mass infestation within American computers by the criminal underground based in Eastern Europe." On its website, the FBI said that the malware initially, infected "approximately 4 million computers in more than 100 countries" and that "there were about 500,000 infections in the U.S." Kellerman explained why Macintosh computers, along with Windows PCs, were vulnerable to this and other malware and how the infection could also affect tablets, game consoles, internet phone systems and other devices connected to affected routers. In the interview Kellerman, laid out the sequence of events that led to the Monday morning disconnection of the temporary servers that were providing Internet access to anyone still infected. Listen Now: Download Today's Podcast Subscribe now: iTunes (audio) | RSS (audio)
