Slashdot Mirror
FBI To Shut Down DNSChanger Servers Monday -- But Should It Cut Off 300k PCs?
nk497 writes "The FBI is set to pull the plug on DNSChanger servers on Monday, leaving as many as 300,000 PCs with the wrong DNS settings, unable to easily connect to websites — although that's a big improvement from the 4m computers that would have been cut off had the authorities pulled the plug when arresting the alleged cybercriminals last year. The date has been pushed back once already to allow people more time to sort out their infected PCs, but experts say it's better to cut off infected machines than leave them be. 'Cutting them off would force them to get ahold of tech support and reveal to them that they've been running a vulnerable machine that's been compromised,' said F-Secure's Sean Sullivan. 'They never learn to patch up the machine, so it's vulnerable to other threats as well. The longer these things sit there, the more time there is for something else to infect.'"
It's not like this is coming out of the blue. Every one of the owners of those machines has had at least 6 months' warning of the problem. If they haven't done anything before this, they won't do anything about it until their Internet stops working and they have no choice. So stop with the hand-wringing, shut 'em down and let those people suffer the consequences of their own willful stupidity. It's the only way they'll learn.
For months, the FBI has been, essentially, providing DNS service for lots of people who didn't even know their machine had been compromised. This is the FBI, remember. If the FBI announced it was going to muck around with the DNS of millions of people, the Usual Suspects here would be ranting about the Evil Of It All.
Most of those 300,000 remaining victims will likely never fix anything. They're only been on the internet for these last several months thanks to the FBI, and they don't even know it.
Pull the plug and go catch some crooks.
-- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"