TECHNO INFO

Thursday, July 05, 2012

Web users beware: DNSChanger victims lose Web access July 9

Get rid of from DNSChanger malware before Monday if you're one of the infected people.

On July 9, the FBI will be switching off servers it used to keep those infected with the malware on the Internet. The organization says maintaining the servers is costly and that therefore the agency won't extend its support.
DNSChanger was first discovered in 2007 and was found to have infected millions of computers worldwide. The payload effectively modified a computer's DNS settings to redirect traffic through its rogue servers. When users typed in a domain name in a browser, the servers would direct them to other sites for the creators' financial gain.

Late last year, the FBI disrupted the crime ring and converted the rogue servers to clean servers to give infected users time to fix their systems. A host of tools and techniques have surfaced for removing the malware, but thousands of machines are still affected. If DNSChanger is not removed from those computers, users won't be able to connect to the Internet.
So, before that happens, Web users are encouraged to head over to a special DNSChanger Web site, DCWG.org, to see how to fix the problem. Several security firms, including McAfee and Trend Micro, also have free tools available to remove DNSChanger.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Himalayan glacier report re-examines by U.N. panel

The U.N. panel report says global warming could cause the Himalaya's thousands of glaciers to vanish by 2035, if current warming rates continue.

Monday it was reviewing a report containing a little-known projection that Himalayan glaciers might vanish by 2035, Said the U.N. panel of climate scientists.
"We are looking into the issue of the Himalayan glaciers, and will take a position on it in the next two or three days," Rajendra Pachauri, head of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told Reuters in an e-mail.

Other experts have said the 10 major Asian rivers the glaciers feed could go dry in the next five decades.

Hundreds of millions of people in India, Pakistan and China would be affected.

Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh Monday questioned the findings of the 2007 report.

"They are indeed receding and the rate is cause for great concern, Ramesh said of the glaciers, but he told reporters the 2035 forecast was "not based on an iota of scientific evidence."

Other experts have said the 2035 projection was not based on peer-reviewed science. In London, The Times newspaper said the Indian scientist who first made the Himalayan thaw projection in 1999 now acknowledged it was "speculation."

Flaws in IPCC reports can be damaging since the findings are a guide for government policy. The IPCC's core finding in 2007 was that it was more than 90 percent sure that mankind is the main cause of global warming, mainly by using fossil fuels.

Ramesh said he had been accused of "voodoo science" in questioning the IPCC findings about the Himalayas in the past.

The IPCC's 2007 report said: "Glaciers in the Himalayas are receding faster than in any other part of the world and, if the present rate continues, the likelihood of them disappearing by the year 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high if the Earth keeps warming at the current rate."