Internet big blackout in July 2012

By CERT

Internet users warned of big blackout in July 2012 Thousands of Sri Lankan internet users will be among millions worldwide who will face a total internet blackout from July 9, 2012, thanks to a malicious piece of software that may infect their computers without their knowledge.

That is the warning from the Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team|Coordinating Centre (Sri Lanka CERT|CC), which yesterday issued a statement appealing to internet users to check to see if their computers were infected. The web blackout from July 9 will be enforced by the FBI, which is shutting down several web servers through which infected users’ web traffic has been travelling. It is shutting them down because of an investigation into a sophisticated internet fraud ring that used the servers to manipulate people’s web browsing. The malware changes a user’s domain name system (DNS) settings, diverting all web requests through servers that the FBI seized in November, but has been temporarily maintaining to ensure internet services were not disrupted. This maintenance will finish on July 9, meaning computers still infected will face internet troubles.

Sri Lanka CERT|CC states that it is likely that users infected will be unable to connect to the internet when the temporary DNS solution is switched off on 9th July 2012. The ways in which users are most likely to be infected by this malware is by opening malicious attachments in emails or by visiting suspect websites through links included in an email. Sri Lanka CERT|CC confirms however that it has not as yet received any complaints regarding infected computers or any internet users being a victim of this malware. They strongly advise internet users to check if their computers have been infected by this malicious software and remove it if necessary by visiting the following link; http://www.dcwg.org/detect/