Around 277,000 computers are infected with the DNSChanger Malware virus and will not be able to conect to the internet on Monday.
As of 12:01 a.m. EDT Monday, July 9, internet connection will be cut for those with the DNSChanger Malware, unless they do a quick check of their computers for malware that could have taken over their machines more than a year ago.
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.
Despite repeated alerts, the number of computers that probably are infected is more than 277,000 worldwide, down from about 360,000 in April. Of those still infected, the FBI believes that about 64,000 are in the United States.
Most victims don't even know their computers have been infected, although the malicious software probably has slowed their Web surfing and disabled their antivirus software, making their machines more vulnerable to other problems.
If your computer is infected with DNSChanger and you've visited either Facebook or Google recently , then you've probably seen warnings about your system being infected with DNSChanger. Both services are posting notices to systems infected with DNSChanger and offering advice about what to do about the infection. Your Internet Service Provider may have also notified you about an infection.
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 percent 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.
