VIRUS COULD BLACK OUT NEARLY 250,000 PCs

BOSTON (Reuters) - About a quarter-million computer users around the world are at risk of losing Internet access on Monday because of malicious software at the heart of a hacking scam that U.S. authorities shut down last November.

Some blogs and news reports hyped the risk of an outage, warning of a potential "blackout" and describing the Alureon malware as the "Internet Doomsday" virus.

 

Yet experts said only a tiny fraction of computer users were at risk, and Internet providers would be on call to quickly restore service. They said they considered the threat to be small compared with more-prevalent viruses such as Zeus and SpyEye, which infect millions of PCs and are used to commit financial fraud. 

As of this week, about 245,000 computers worldwide were still infected by Alureon and its brethren, according to security firm Deteque. That included 45,355 computers in the United States.

 

The viruses were designed to redirect Internet traffic through rogue DNS servers controlled by criminals, according to the FBI. DNS servers are computer switchboards that direct Web traffic.

When authorities took down the rogue servers, a federal judge in New York ordered that temporary servers be kept in place while the victims' machines were repaired. The temporary servers will shut down at 12:01 a.m. EDT on Monday, which means the infected PCs that have not been fixed will no longer be able to connect to the Internet. 

Some U.S. Internet providers, including AT&T Inc and Time Warner Cable, have made temporary arrangements so that their customers will be able to access the Internet using the address of the rogue DNS servers. 

Information on how to identify and clean up infections can be found on a website that a group of security firms and other experts set up: http://www.dcwg.org.

"It's a very easy one to fix," said Gunter Ollmann, vice president of research for security company Damballa. "There are plenty of tools available." 

Many of the machines that remain infected are probably not in active use since most victims were notified of the problem, said security expert Johannes Ullrich, who runs the Internet Storm Center, which monitors Web threats.

The United States has charged seven people for orchestrating the worldwide Internet fraud. Six were arrested in Estonia, while the seventh, who was living in Russia, is still at large. Tallinn has so far extradited two of the men to New York where they appeared in Manhattan federal court. 

The case is USA v. Tsastsin et al, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 11-cr-878.

(Reporting by Jim Finkle in Boston; Additional reporting by Basil Katz in New York; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

KUCHAPISHWA KWA MISIMBO YA POSTA (ORODHA ZA POSTIKODI)

JAMHURI YA MUUNGANO WA TANZANIA

MAMLAKA YA MAWASILIANO TANZANIA

Kufuatana na kifungu nambari 41 cha Sheria ya Mawasiliano ya Kielektroniki na Posta ya mwaka 2010, Mamlaka ya Mawasiliano Tanzania inapenda kufahamisha umma kwamba orodha ya Misimbo ya Posta au ‘postikodi’ za Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania imechapishwa kupitia Gazeti ya Serikali Notisi nambari 220 ya tarehe 22 Juni 2012.

Msimbo wa posta (Postikodi) ni mkusanyiko wa tarakimu inayotambulisha eneo la usambazaji wa barua na kwa Tanzania eneo linalotambulishwa ni Kata kwa Tanzania Bara na Wadi kwa Zanzibar.  Kazi hii ya kitaalamu ya kugawa misimbo ya posta imefanyika baada ya utafiti wa muda mrefu ambao umehusisha watalaamu mbalimbali. Ili kuufahamu mfumo wa Msimbo wa Posta wa Tanzania, vigezo vifuatavyo vimetumika kama ilivyofafanuliwa hapa chini.

(a) Tanzania imegawanywa katika kanda 6 na Zanzibar kama ifuatavyo;

1 - Dar es Salaam

2 - Kaskazini

3 - Ziwa

4 - Kati

5 – Nyanda za Juu Kusini

6 – Pwani

7 – Zanzibar

(b) Tarakimu ya kwanza na ya pili ya msimbo wa posta (kwa pamoja) inawakilisha mkoa katika Tanzania

(c)  Tarakimu ya kwanza, ya pili na ya tatu (kwa pamoja) inawakilisha Wilaya au Eneo la kati la Biashara katika Wilaya

(d) Tarakimu ya kwanza hadi ya tano ya msimbo wa posta inawakilisha Kata, Wadi, Watumiaji wakubwa wa posta, Vitu maarufu na Shughuli maalumu 

MIFANO YA MISIMBO YA POSTA;

11707: Ukumbi wa Karimjee, Dar es Salaam.

23101: ICC, Arusha

33106: Kirumba, Mwanza

41105: Makole, Dodoma

57103: Mfaranyaki, Songea

63219: Msanga Mkuu, Mtwara

73104: Mkokotoni, Unguja

74209: Wawi, Chake Chake

3.   Anuani mpya zitawezesha ufikishwaji majumbani barua na vifurushi. Kwa mfano anwani kamili inatolewa hapa chini:

Amos Mbawala

20 Barabara ya Mashele

23101 ARUSHA

              2 – Kanda - Kasikazini

             23 -  Mkoa - Arusha

            231 – Wilaya - Arusha

           23101 –Kata - Sekei

Orodha ya ‘Postikodi’ imechapishwa kwa ajili ya maeneo ya usambazaji ikijumuisha Mikoa, Wilaya na Kata kama ilivyoainishwa 1 na 2 hapo juu. Orodha ya misimbo ya posta (postikodi) itatolewa kwa ajili ya vigezo vingine vilivyooneshwa 3-5 hapo juu.

Umoja wa Posta Duniani ambacho ni chombo cha Umoja wa Mataifa chenye wajibu wa kuendeleza sekta ya posta katika nchi wanachama, utaarifiwa rasmi ambapo utawafahamisha wadau wakuu wote duniani kuhusiana na matumizi ya mfumo mpya katika Tanzania. 

2.   Vigezo vilivyotumika kugawa misimbo ya posta (postikodi)

	Kigezo	Maelezo
1	Eneo la Utawala	Kata au Wadi imechaguliwa kuwa eneo la chini la usambazaji.
2	Ofisi za Posta	Kila Ofisi ya Posta itakuwa na msimbo wa posta. Mteja mwenye S.L.B katika Posta fulani atatumia Msimbo wa posta (postikodi) ya Posta ile.
3	Watumaji wa barua wakubwa	Watumaji wa barua wakubwa kama Wizara za Serikali, Taasisi za Umma, Taasisi za Udhibiti, Makampuni, Taasisi za Kimataifa, Taasisi zisizo za kiserikali zitapewa msimbo maalumu wa posta.
4	Vitu maarufu	Eneo au umbo la kitu ambacho kimehifadhiwa kwa sababu ya kuhifadhi historia litapewa msimbo maalumu wa posta.
5	Matukio au shughuli maalumu  (Kwa muda)	Kutakuwa na misimbo ya posta ambayo itahifadhiwa kwa ajili ya kugawanywa endapo kutakuwa na shughuli maalumu katika nchi.

  Ufafanuzi wa mfumo wa msimbo wa posta

Mfumo wa msimbo wa posta wa Tanzania utaundwa na tarakimu tano (5) ambazo zinatafisiriwa kama ifuatavyo:

Muundo wa Msimbo wa Posta	Maelezo
X X X X X	Tarakimu 5 (Mfumo wa Tarakimu za Msimbo wa Posta)
X -  -  -  -	Tarakimu ya kwanza  = Kanda (1 – 7 tazama (a) hapa chini)
X X -  -  -	Tarakimu mbili za kwanza = Mkoa
X X X -  -	Tarakimu tatu za kwanza = Wilaya
X X X X X	Tarakimu zote tano = Kata/Wadi (Eneo la usambazaji)
	Tarakimu zote tano = Ofisi ya posta / mteja mkubwa / Eneo maarufu /Misimbo ya posta ya shughuli maalumu.