BBB: Thousands May Lose Internet Access on July 9

July 5, 2012 - PRLog -- RALEIGH, N.C. (July 5, 2012) — Thousands of Internet users may lose their online access on July 9, 2012, and Better Business Bureau serving Eastern North Carolina is urging all consumers and businesses to run a quick and easy diagnostic test to see if their computers are infected. The FBI’s DNS Changer Working Group can detect the malware and explain how to fix infected machines.

“Everyone should check to see if their computer is infected, otherwise they could lose their Internet access,” said Toby Barfield, president and CEO of BBB serving Eastern North Carolina. “It takes less than a minute to check and, if your equipment is clean, there is nothing more you need to do. If your computer is infected, the DNS Changer Working Group recommends the necessary steps to save your computer.”

Last November, the FBI took down the servers of international hackers operating out of Estonia. The hackers had already successfully downloaded malware onto more than half a million computers, turning off virus updates and redirecting consumers to fraudulent Web sites. If the servers had simply been shut down, the victims’ computers would no longer be able to access the Internet. Instead, the FBI set up clean servers to replace the ones that were running the scam, and victims have been redirected to those clean servers ever since, usually without any knowledge they had been infected in the first place.

Originally the rescue servers were to be active until March, but a court ruling extended the program until July 9th. At that time the clean servers will be turned off and anyone who is still infected with the malware will lose their Internet access. The FBI believes there are still about 360,000 infected computers in a dozen countries, including the U.S. and Canada.

For more information, visit us at bbb.org.

About BBB serving Eastern North Carolina
Better Business Bureau serving Eastern North Carolina is a 501(c)(6) not-for-profit corporation serving 33 counties in eastern North Carolina. The organization is funded primarily by BBB Accredited Business fees from more than 3,000 local businesses and professional firms. BBB promotes integrity, consumer confidence and business ethics through business self-regulation in the local marketplace. Services provided by BBB include reports on companies and charitable organizations, general monitoring of advertising in the marketplace, consumer/business education programs and dispute resolution services. All services are provided at no cost to the public, with the occasional exception of mediation and arbitration. Visit bbb.org.