Even though the botnet behind the DNSChanger Trojan was dismantled towards the end of last year, a huge number of enterprises appear to still be infected.
So what's the problem if the power behind the Trojan has been hauled off to jail? Well how about the small matter of the FBI apparently insisting it will seek to disconnect any computer still found to be infected with DNSChanger on 8 March?
DNSChanger was one of the most malicious of Trojans to hit businesses last year, infecting around 4 million computers globally. It worked by changing the host system's Domain Name Server (DNS) settings to point them at assorted advertising and often malicious sites via the now dismantled botnet.It also made changes to ensure that infected systems could no longer access security vendor sites in order to get help with removal of the thing.
DNSChanger was one of the most malicious of Trojans to hit businesses last year.
It was a typically clever bit of malware and one that proved to be pretty successful, allegedly netting the Estonian gang behind it upwards of 8 million in profit. It did all of this by simply changing the NameServer Registry key value to a custom IP address upon installation of the malicious executable.
But, I have to ask on your behalf once again, why does any of this actually matter now the command and control botnet that was handling the DNS diversions has been dismantled and no longer exists, so that those infected computers cannot be pointed towards the nefarious sites? That's where the FBI comes in.
The botnet itself was uncovered after a co-ordinated attack on the malware infrastructure. Law enforcement authorities and service providers effectively reverse engineered the botnet and alerted customers whose machines were infected with the Trojan.
-
Seized database helps Europol snare botnet customers in ‘Operation Endgame’ follow-up stingNews Europol has detained several people believed to be involved in a botnet operation as part of a follow-up to a major takedown last year.
-
Horabot campaign targeted businesses for more than two years before finally being discoveredNews The newly-discovered Horabot botnet has attacked companies in the accounting, investment, and construction sectors in particular
-
Capita tells pension provider to 'assume' nearly 500,000 customers' data stolenCapita told the pension provider to “work on the assumption” that data had been stolen
-
Brand-new Emotet campaign socially engineers its way from detectionNews This latest resurgence follows a three-month hiatus and tricks users into re-enabling dangerous VBA macros
-
Microsoft says “it’s just too difficult” to effectively disrupt ransomwareNews The company details its new approach to combatting cyber crime as the underground industry drains $6 trillion from the global economy
-
Beating the bad bots: Six ways to identify and block spam trafficIn-depth Not all traffic is good. Learn how to prevent bad bots from overrunning your website
-
Ukraine's vigilante IT army now has a DDoS bot to automate attacks against RussiaNews The 270,000-strong IT Army of Ukraine will now combine supporters' cloud infrastructure to strengthen the daily attacks against their invaders
-
Microsoft's secure VBA macro rules already being bypassed by hackersNews Recent analysis of Emotet activity has revealed a shift away from malicious Office documents to drop malware
