DNS Changer servers going offline

There are a whole host of different botnets. One botnet run by Rove Digital infected computers with viruses that changed their DNS settings, giving the botnet runners the ability to control how the infected computers viewed the Internet.
The criminals behind the DNS Changer virus were arrested in November of last year. The court ordered the Internet Systems Consortium (ISC) to operate replacement DNS servers for computers infected with the botnet viruses in order to give users a chance to clean and fix their computers.
That court order expires on Monday.
Anyone who is still infected with the DNS Changer malware will see their internet services greatly curtailed when the DNS servers go offline.
If you run Windows and you haven’t yet checked to see if you’re infected, you should do so soon. There are a number of websites you can visit that will tell you if you are actually infected with the DNS changer virus and if you are will give you information on how to fix your system.

And, if your internet stops working on Monday you’ll have some path to resolution.

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Uptick in botnet spam

There’s been a heavy uptick in botnet spam over the last few days, judging by things I’m hearing and my own mailboxes. There are a few common subject lines, but all of them are trying to get recipients to either run programs or visit malicious web pages.
The first subject line I’m seeing a lot of is “<name> wants to be friends with you on facebook!” In my mailbox most of those names have not been common European names. The give away that this isn’t actually a Facebook invite is the Reply-To address pointing to Linkedin. The URLs in the message appear to be random strings of numbers, and may actually encode recipient information in them.
The second has a subject that that is a variation on “End of July Statement.” The spammers are mixing capitals, adding in “Re:” and “FWD:” and sometimes increasing the urgency by adding required or STAT!! to the mail. These mails contain a .zip file which probably contains some virus which will turn the recipient machine into the next spam spewing bot.
The third variation has the subject line “Uniform Traffic Ticket.” The content is a citation that tells the recipient they were speeding somewhere in New York (possibly other states, I have only done a spot check of the couple hundred copies I have). There is, however, a .zip attachment with a virus.
Most people probably aren’t seeing these. SpamAssassin is doing a reasonably good job here of catching the spam and filtering it. I’m sure that the bigger ISPs are also filtering it effectively. But one person did forward a copy of the spam to a mailing list and ask if anyone knew what was going on.
If you get any of these messages, you don’t need to ask. It’s virus spam. Don’t open it and don’t forward it.

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Anti-Botnet Code of Conduct Published

The Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) published a Anti-botnet code of conduct for ISPs. This is a purely voluntary code for U.S. ISPs that want to mitigate the botnet threat to follow. You can download a full copy of the final report from the MAAWG website. The FCC has published a fact sheet about the report on their own website.

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Biggest botnet takedown to date

Yesterday law enforcement officials arrested 6 people and charged them with running a massive internet fraud ring. Over 4 million PCs were part of the botnet.
According to the FBI

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