By 12:01 a.m. EDT Monday, July 9, 300,000 unknown owners of 300,000 DNS Changer Malware infected computers have to clean their DNSChanger Malware infected machines otherwise they will not be able to connect to the internet.
As early as late May, Google started warning infected users with a bannered message at the top of the company's search results page. Sometime later, Facebook did the same for its members. Internet service providers have sent notices, and the FBI set up a special website.
You can check to see if your PC is infected by going to www.dns-ok.us. If your PC has the DNSChanger malware, you'll be provided links to resources to remove it.
According to the FBI, the number of computers infected is probably more than 277,000 worldwide, down from about 360,000 in April. About 64,000 still-infected computers are probably in the United States.
And it's not just consumer computers. Washington-based Internet Identity (IID) Tacoma, which has been monitoring the cleanup efforts said last week that 12% of Fortune 500 firms had their computers or routers infected with the DNSChanger. Government computers weren't immune either.
"We're all struggling with this," said Rod Rasmussen, chief technology officer of IID and a member of the DNSChanger Working Group (DCWG), a volunteer organization of security professionals and companies. "There are a lot of people who just haven't gotten the word."
The DCWG worked extensively with ISPs (Internet service providers) to help them alert customers with infected computers and advise them on removing the malware. The group also reached out to enterprises, government agencies and other organizations to offer the same assistance.
The DCWG's website also has links to free tools that remove the malware.
