As many of you might already know, today is supposed to be the day that tens of thousands of people in the US could lose their access to the Internet. This is due to a malware program called DNSChanger, which redirected those infected PCs to rogue servers. The FBI actually shut down this malware operation some time ago, but kept the servers alive so those PCs with the DNSChanger program could keep their net access.
Today, the FBI is supposed to shut down those servers. Estimates are that around 64,000 PCs in the US could be infected by the malware and as such their net access could be disabled once those servers go down. However, the Wall Street Journal reports that large US ISPs have pledged to help their customers with DNSChanger maintain their Internet connection.
AT&T seems to be making the biggest effort, claiming that it will redirect PCs with the malware to the correct websites. A spokesperson for the company said:
We will operate legitimate domain-name servers through the end of the year, and that will give the very, very small number of customers whose computers may be affected time to remove it from their computer and avoid any service interruption. They will not be cut off.
Other ISPs such as Comcast have sent out emails to customers they suspect might have the DNSChanger malware to alert them ahead of time. Verizon has also offered customers instructions on how to remove the malware or offered to link them to contractors to have them take out the program. All in all, it sounds like this threat may affect a smaller number of people than originally suspected.
Source: Wall Street Journal