In this Internet connected world the FBI have had to expand the list of super villains that they are hunting down. The new generation of super villain is wired and connected, existing in the ethereal world of the internet as an avatar and making use of zombie machines to do their bidding. Not only do the FBI need to track down these crafty individuals but they are also tasked with cleaning up the mess left behind by these super villains. The by-product of this latest victory may drop 4 million machines off the internet in one day.

The FBI’s latest clean-up involves the DNSChanger Trojan. This sordid little tale begins with the arrest of six men in Estonia. The arrests were made in November with the Estonian authorities reporting that the six were suspected of using DNSChanger Trojan malware to redirect victims to malicious websites and block them from genuine security sites that might’ve removed the infection. There are at least four million computers infected by the trojan worldwide. Not just limited to home PC’s the trojan has also found its way onto many corporate machines.

Since the arrests the FBI has been working to identify the infected machines and directing the relevant ISPs to clean up the infections. The FBI currently has court orders allowing it to use its own DNS servers to track – in itself a form of hacking – the infection, this court order runs out on March 8. As you would imagine this is a slow and tedious job, and it has zero chance of being completed by March 8.

With the March 8 deadline fast approaching the FBI is preparing to shut all of the Trojans servers down. For all of the people with infected machines this means they will ll be knocked off the internet when the FBI pulls the plug on this latest trojan network. While they could plod along for years cleaning this up one machine at a time in this case ripping the band-aid off in one quick motion is the best solution. If you are concerned your machine may be one of the DNSChanger zombie hoards it is recommended that you use an online virus scanner, check your DNS against the list of trojan DNS’s or call your local Technoid for support. Further instructions can be found at TechSport linked below. For all tech support providers out there expect 4 million calls on March 8.

Source: TechSpot