How To Protect Your Computer From DNSChanger Malware?

There is a hot news buzzing around the web these days and that is “Will Internet Shutdown On July 9?”. It is neither just a rumor to fetch the attention nor an idea to sell the antivirus products and make money of it, this is a true fact warned by FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and approved by Google. The internet itself doesn’t shutdown on July 9 but it will surely infect your PC or Mac with malicious malware that is capable of changing your DNS settings and forwarding it to malicious Domain Name System data centers located in Estonia, New York, and Chicago. If you won’t take any pre-cautions then you might not get your internet back again!.

The DNS altering malwares named TDSS, Alureon, TidServ and TDL started infecting the internet from the last year through various techniques including swapping online advertising etc. under the company called “Rove Digital”. FBI has already arrested some cyber criminals who are known to be the part of this DNS changing malwares under “Operation Ghost Click”.

About DNSChanger Malware

DNS stands for Domain Name System which is used by the computers to navigate to the specific website. Website addresses what we call URLs are the numerical values in the back end but not strings, the name of the website what we call domain, navigates your browser to specific DNS which is a sequence of numbers to open specified website. DNSChanger or DNS Changer Trojan modifies the DNS settings and forwards them to malicious Domain Name System which are located in various countries.

The infected DNS servers can recommend unsafe products and provide malicious answers for your search queries which again opens the door to welcome more malwares. DNSChanger malware is infected four million computers till now. To avoid further damage FBI is all set to replace these infected Domain Name Systems on July 9.

Heat map showing infected computers worldwide from dnschanger malware

Does Internet halt On July 9, 2012?

The answer for this question is obviously “Yes”. FBI already attained a court order to clean and maintain the DNS servers which are infected with the deadly malwares written above and as the result of this process your Internet might not work properly on July 9 or may turn off on that entire day. If your PC or Mac is infected with this malicious malware then you will be unable to get your Internet back.

Actually FBI was about to halt the Internet on July 9 but the date is postponed to July 9 as many users are not aware of this malware. So it is the duty of every internet user to spread this news around the world to keep the internet safe from wrong persons.

How to Know Whether Your PC or MAC Got Infected With DNSChanger Malware?

DCWG (DNS Changer Working Group) has developed a website that let you know whether your computer got infected with DNSChanger Malware. Just navigate your browser to www.dns-ok.us to scan your DNS settings. If the website comes up with the message “Your computer appears to be looking up IP addresses correctly!” with green background then you are safe else the website’s background turns to red depicting your PC or MAC is infected with DNSChanger Malware.

How to Protect Your PC or MAC from DNSChanger Malware?

You must take immediate action once you know that your computer has got infected with DNS Changer Trojan. There are some softwares and tools available to get rid of this malware and make you PC secure. Most useful dnschanger malware removal tools are-

Kaspersky Labs TDSSKiller: Kaspersky’s TDSSKiller is a robust tool to heal the DNS Changer Trojan. It can detect and remove TDSS, Alureon, TidServ and TDL malwares. Kaspersky’s TDSSKiller is a free tool which can be downloaded from this link.

Norton Power Eraser: Power Eraser by Symantic uses advanced scan methods to detect TDSS family threats. 2.6 MB’s Norton Power Eraser can be downloaded from this link.