Google Launches Notifications To Alert DNSChanger Malware Victims

DNSChanger has been a malware that has been able to infect millions of computers around the globe. Currently, most of the users who have their machines infected with the malware are quite unaware of it. So now, Google is launching a notification system in which it would alert the users who have their machines infected with DNSChanger, to tell them that if they don’t take action soon, they won’t be able to user internet any more.


FBI had set up a number of servers to help the victims of DNSChanger malware. However, on coming July 9, FBI is planning on disconnecting and taking down these servers so that they would no longer be supporting the malware victims. For a lot of users with infected machines, this would mean that they will no longer be able to use internet.

To stop this from happening, Google has launched a notification system in which a whopping half a million population will be notified about this impending doom for DNSChanger-infected machines.

According to Google security engineer Damian Menshcer, “The warning will be at the top of the search results page for regular searches and image searches and news searches. The text will say, ‘Your computer appears to be infected,’ and it will give additional detail warning them that they may not be able to connect to the Internet in the future.”

The way DNSChanger works is quite simple. When the user is trying to open a perfectly normal and safe website, it redirects the user to a website of its own liking. Also, Google is using a clever mechanism to detect when an infected PC talks to the server and then displays the notification specifically in such PCs.

Source: Google

Courtesy: CNET

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Salman

Salman Latif is a software engineer with a specific interest in social media, big data and real-world solutions using the two.Other than that, he is a bit of a gypsy. He also writes in his own blog. You can find him on Google+ and Twitter .

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