Monday Malware Mania Takes Over As DNS Changer Infected Computers Lose Internet Connection

Today has been one of those manic Monday's for many as their world collapsed without the Internet.  I personally didn't experience any of this, but a very good friend of mine did.  He turned on his computer and pulled up Google Chrome to check Facebook, and there it was, staring him in the face, an error screen, his Internet done up and left him dry, but why?  Ever heard of the DNS Changer?

The problem he encountered was the same that thousands upon thousands of people experienced today, as a computer virus that had been contained over the past 8 months finally took effect and disconnected him from the Internet.  His computer still works, it just lacks Internet capabilities.

Who'd of thunk it?  Did you ignore the warning signs too?

The Malware program infected an estimated 10 million computers about a year ago, and considering only about 64,000 people lost connection, I can only assume it was a poorly written virus.  Because I've had a computer virus before, and it killed my computer pretty much instantly!

Either way, you couldn't turn on your television over the past 3 months without hearing something about the DNS Changer and how it was going to cause millions of people to lose Internet connection.  Yeah, they were pretty freaking far off in their estimates!

WJLA reports:

At 12:01 a.m. EDT, the FBI turned off the Internet servers that were functioning as a temporary safety net to keep infected computers online for the past eight months

The court order the agency had gotten to keep the servers running expired, and it was not renewed.

If you've lost connection, my understanding is that you need to get in contact with your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and see if they have a Help Desk or Technical Support department to get back online.

Is this really a big deal?

Consider this, 64,000 people were left without Internet, and I realize that not everyone has a computer.  However, the population in the USA alone is over 313 million people, and the world is over 7 BILLION people!  To only have 64,000 people left without Internet, that is a WIN in my book!

I only know 1 person that was directly effected by it, and I know way to many people.  So with the numbers being so small, I think we (the media) took it and blew it way out of proportion.

ISP's have been steady working to prepare for the down fall.  Putting technical solutions in place and preparing for the worse.  I think it was the major effort put in by ISP's that really kept the numbers so small.

Other ISP's just braced their call center for a flood of phone calls from angry customers.

If you are left without Internet, don't panic, just contact your ISP and see what all options you have, there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

Now that I've confused you and myself with a bunch of technical mumbo jumbo, have a happy Monday and enjoy South Park making fun of people that can't live without the Internet.