Paul Vixie On DNS Changer: We're Dealing With Malware the Wrong Way 163
AlistairCharlton writes with this snippet: "Victims of the DNS Changer malware think they have better things to do than check their internet security, and as a digital society we're dealing with malware in completely the wrong way. These are the thoughts of Paul Vixie who worked with the FBI in intercepting servers used by a gang of Estonian hackers who made millions of dollars from redirecting internet users away from the websites they requested, directing them to advertisements instead." The linked article also offers an interesting description of how the FBI's quiet takeover of a botnet came to be.
Remember back when... (Score:4, Informative)
As opposed to today when uhh...
At what point did the average home user understand or care about security? We should consider ourselves lucky that service providers at least pretend to care about security these days. Any home user that can understand computer security policy and practice is most likely in the industry, or trained to do so.
Now a High School / GED level computer security class might sound hilariously basic for someone on Slashdot; but might be as useful as drivers ed classes for the masses. Sure there are morons that will drive/compute unsafely no matter what training, but some basic learning on how to protect one's self would really help intelligent people that just don't know better.
Correct link to cited Vixie post (Score:5, Informative)
As has become all too common the /. summary is linked to a negative-added-value article at the totally worthless IBT.
Paul's actual post is at CircleID: http://www.circleid.com/posts/20120327_dns_changer/ [circleid.com] and is over 3 months old. Not news. As is normal for Paul it is well written and smart but if you've been following DNSChanger, you've read this already.
Re:Time to take the tinfoil hat off... (Score:5, Informative)
Exactly. We know we never have to worry about a private corporation using personal data for profit, right? And no company would ever play ball with the feds in return for a juicy government contract. And its a good things they have a good reputation. I mean, someday companies might even have to start hiring PR people and the like to try to hide the evil things they do behind a good reputation.
Who said anything about a private corporation. Do you know what ISC [isc.org] IS?
They are a non-profit organization whose sole purpose is to support the infrastructure of the Internet. They build open-source software (like BIND and implementations of DHCP). Sorry, but you really should research before you spout off.
Re:Time to take the tinfoil hat off... (Score:4, Informative)
They are a non-profit organization whose sole purpose is to support the infrastructure of the Internet. They build open-source software (like BIND and implementations of DHCP). Sorry, but you really should research before you spout off.
Not to mention running the F root name server [isc.org]. They really know DNS.
Off the top of my head, I can think of only a few organizations in the world who have the know-how and ability to run a large-scale DNS system properly. ISC is at the top of that list. IMHO, the FBI chose wisely.