Internet Shutdown postponed until July for millions of users.

Good news for the owners of the millions of computing devices affected by the malicious DNSChanger Trojan. The FBI obtained a court order to postpone the termination of the compromised DNS servers from March 8 to July 9, 2012, giving ISPs and companies 120 days to dispose of the malware.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Internet-Shutdown-Postponed-by-Court-to-July-9-2012-257202.shtml

In a nutshell, your computer refers to DNS servers to resolve the name of websites you enter to an IP address (www.fbi.gov 72.21.81.85), it is analogous to a street address.  Last year the FBI and other agencies took down some Eastern European cyber criminals who had managed to infect millions of computers with DNS changer malware.  Instead of using your legitimate DNS server to resolve your website inquiries, they direct you to their DNS server and send you to sites that profited them instead.  The extent of the infection and disruption of service was so huge that the FBI has been running legit DNS servers at the IP addresses of the criminal servers until the users and their ISPs could clean up the infected systems.  The original shutdown was to occur in March however since so many systems are still infected it has been postponed until July.  After July if an infected system queries for an IP address there will be no answer thus web searching will cease for this user.

If you have not checked to be certain that your computer is free of DNS changer malware yet then please use this site for a free test of your system.  This test is only for the DNS changer malware and your computer could be infected with other malware/trojans/worms/viruses as well.

http://dcwg.org

PC security is a responsibility you should take seriously not only for yourself but just being a good neighbor on the Internet so you are not helping to perpetuate the problem.  I have worked on many systems with hundreds and more of infected objects in which the owner knew they were infected but did not act until the system stopped.  One infection is too many and regular checks and maintenance are important.  Everyone should make sure they have some kind of current working Anti-virus/Spyware software and it is up to date.

APPLE 10 years behind Microsoft in Security.

Kaspersky the Russian Anti-virus company announced that Apple is 10 years behind Microsoft in Security issues.

http://malware.cbronline.com/news/apple-10-years-behind-microsoft-on-security-kaspersky-250412

Apple BotNet Threat

As I reported yesterday in an email blast to my clients, over 600,000 Apple Macs have been affected by a Java Script based Trojan, the "Flashback".  Apple has attempted a second patch to block the Trojan from unleashing it's payload on unsuspecting MAC users.  The new patch is only for the latest Apple OS and not for earlier versions.  The following link to Slashgear's website provides further links to determine if your MAC is infected and how to manually remove the Trojan from your MAC.

http://www.slashgear.com/apple-makes-second-attempt-at-trojan-java-block-06221830/

The Trojan first appeared around the first of the year and made inroads via Pirate downloads.  It is always the free fruit that entices the naive and unsuspecting.

http://www.slashgear.com/photoshop-mac-trojan-identified-in-pirate-downloads-2631895/

Now that Apple has surged in popularity among home users it is more susceptible to attacks.  For a detailed list of Antivirus software and reviews please visit the following site.

http://mac-antivirus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/