14 DAY TRIAL // With only around 10 days left until the dreaded “Internet shutdown” caused by the now-infamous DNSChanger malware, experts believe that there are still around 300,000 infected computers which will most likely lose access to the web if their owners don’t act quickly.
According to a study released by Internet Identity (IID), many of the affected machines, 12 percent to be more precise, are owned by Fortune 500 companies. Another 4 percent are housed within federal agencies from the United States.
“DNSChanger is an insidious form of malware affecting everyone from the everyday consumer to a large chunk of the Fortune 500,” explained IID CEO, Lars Harvey.
“By working together to pool collective intelligence on the latest security threats, enterprises can ensure DNS resolvers do not enable employees to visit Internet locations hosting malware like DNSChanger—protecting their customer confidence, revenue, intellectual property and much more. We look forward to working with enterprises to accomplish this.”
The CEO makes a good point. While regular users impacted by the malware will only lose their Internet connection, for companies it could be much worse. The activity of the 58 Fortune 500 organizations could be severely disrupted, which can translate into financial losses and negative impact on the firm’s reputation.
HitmanPro provides a geographical distribution of the top 5 countries still affected by DNSChanger. Currently, there are 69,517 unique IPs in the United States, 26.494 in Italy, 21,302 in India, around 19,500 in the United Kingdom, and just over 18,400 in Germany.
There’s not much until July 9, the date when the replacement DNS servers go offline, but it’s still not too late for those who want to get rid of DNSChanger. ISPs, the DNS Changer Working Group and companies such as Internet Identity can surely help those still infected with the malware.