250,000 computers may lose internet on July 9.

BOSTON: 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 US 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 am EDT (0401 GMT) on Monday, which means the infected PCs that have not been fixed will no longer be able to connect to the internet.

Some US internet providers, including AT&T 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.

"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, US District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 11-cr-878..

250,000 computers may lose internet on July 9.

BOSTON: 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 US 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 am EDT (0401 GMT) on Monday, which means the infected PCs that have not been fixed will no longer be able to connect to the internet.

Some US internet providers, including AT&T 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.

"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, US District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 11-cr-878..

TP Murder: Pinarayi Vijayan resents inclusion of K.K. Ragesh in accused list.

NEW DELHI: CPI (M) Kerala secretary Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday resented the inclusion of party state committee member K.K. Ragesh in the list of accused in the RMP leader T.P. Chandrasekheran murder case.

'It is the latest example that investigation in the case is changing its direction', Vijayan said in a release hereThursday.
He alleged that Ragesh was made an accused in the case with political motives and said it was a very cruel act.
He was made an accused on the basis of "untrue and incorrect" statements and UDF government was misusing the police to harass CPI (M) leaders under the cover of Chandrasekheran's murder, h

TP Murder: Pinarayi Vijayan resents inclusion of K.K. Ragesh in accused list.

NEW DELHI: CPI (M) Kerala secretary Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday resented the inclusion of party state committee member K.K. Ragesh in the list of accused in the RMP leader T.P. Chandrasekheran murder case.

'It is the latest example that investigation in the case is changing its direction', Vijayan said in a release hereThursday.
He alleged that Ragesh was made an accused in the case with political motives and said it was a very cruel act.
He was made an accused on the basis of "untrue and incorrect" statements and UDF government was misusing the police to harass CPI (M) leaders under the cover of Chandrasekheran's murder, h

LATEST NEWS

.  SFI leaders in JNU resign.
NEW DELHI: The SFI leaders in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) resigned their memberships in protest against the decision of CPI (M) leadership to support Pranab Mukherjee in the coming presidential election..

Woman, daughter killed in accident at Harippad.

HARIPPAD: A 75 year old woman and her daughter were killed in a road accident when the Tata Sumo they were travelling in collided with a tourist bus at Harippad in Alappuzha district of Kerala on Thursday. Nine others including a baby were injured.
The deceased were identified as Bhargavi (75), wife of late Vasudevan from Ochira, and her daughter Saraswati (45). The incident happened at SN Kadavu Junction around 6’O clock in the morning.
They were heading towards Thiruvankulam Temple in Ernakulam district for ‘choroonu’ ceremony (It is a ceremony where one gives rice to the baby for the first time) of the six-month old son Adithyan of Manju, Saraswati’s daughter. Manju and Adithyan got injured in the accident.
Apart from Manju (26) and Adithyan, those injured were identified as Subhashini (50), sister of Bhargavi, Arunima (26), daughter of Bhargavi, Vinaya aka Unnimaya (three and a half years old), daughter of Arunima, Rajesh (28), husband of Manju, Sreekkuttan (16), brother of Manju, her neighbor Sathi Amma (50), and  driver Lalu (38). All the injured were admitted to Alappuzha Medical College hospital.
.  VS hold talks with Ajitha in ice-cream parlour case.
KOZHIKODE: Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan, who has to appear before the Kozhikode Judicial Magistrate court in connection with ice-cream parlour case Friday called on Anweshi president K Ajitha.
The two held talks at the Kozhikode Guest House. After their talks, Ajitha said the investigating report in the case is not completely against P K Kunhalikutty. The Supreme Court had yesterday stated that VS has the right to demand the investigating report as a representative of the people.  .

LATEST NEWS

.  SFI leaders in JNU resign.
NEW DELHI: The SFI leaders in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) resigned their memberships in protest against the decision of CPI (M) leadership to support Pranab Mukherjee in the coming presidential election..

Woman, daughter killed in accident at Harippad.

HARIPPAD: A 75 year old woman and her daughter were killed in a road accident when the Tata Sumo they were travelling in collided with a tourist bus at Harippad in Alappuzha district of Kerala on Thursday. Nine others including a baby were injured.
The deceased were identified as Bhargavi (75), wife of late Vasudevan from Ochira, and her daughter Saraswati (45). The incident happened at SN Kadavu Junction around 6’O clock in the morning.
They were heading towards Thiruvankulam Temple in Ernakulam district for ‘choroonu’ ceremony (It is a ceremony where one gives rice to the baby for the first time) of the six-month old son Adithyan of Manju, Saraswati’s daughter. Manju and Adithyan got injured in the accident.
Apart from Manju (26) and Adithyan, those injured were identified as Subhashini (50), sister of Bhargavi, Arunima (26), daughter of Bhargavi, Vinaya aka Unnimaya (three and a half years old), daughter of Arunima, Rajesh (28), husband of Manju, Sreekkuttan (16), brother of Manju, her neighbor Sathi Amma (50), and  driver Lalu (38). All the injured were admitted to Alappuzha Medical College hospital.
.  VS hold talks with Ajitha in ice-cream parlour case.
KOZHIKODE: Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan, who has to appear before the Kozhikode Judicial Magistrate court in connection with ice-cream parlour case Friday called on Anweshi president K Ajitha.
The two held talks at the Kozhikode Guest House. After their talks, Ajitha said the investigating report in the case is not completely against P K Kunhalikutty. The Supreme Court had yesterday stated that VS has the right to demand the investigating report as a representative of the people.  .

Stocktaking of Kerala temple treasure begins.

Thiruvananthapuram: Two committees appointed by the Supreme Court Thursday started taking stock and estimating the value of the jewels, gems and precious metals kept inside one of the six vaults of the ancient Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple here.
The committee members met at the temple Wednesday to plan the valuation process of the items lying inside 'Vault A'. 
Gemologists are assisting the committees in the valuation. Equipments have been brought from Germany for the job.
The committees is expected to submit an interim report on the stocktaking to the court Aug 8, a member said.
One of the committees is headed by M.V. Nair and the other by Justice (retd) M.N. Krishnan. The committees also have representatives from the state government, the erstwhile Travancore royal family, the temple's custodians and experts.
In July last year, the committees stumbled upon six vaults in the temple. Five vaults were opened, except for the sixth 'Vault B'.
They estimated the value of the treasure to be more that Rs.one lakh crore, with items in Vault A the most valuable among the five.
When Vault A was opened last year, it was found filled with rubies, diamonds, statues of deities and gold coins.
Last year, T.P. Sunderarajan, 70, a former police officer, approached the court, requesting it to take stock of items in the temple. He alleged that the temple was not being managed properly

Stocktaking of Kerala temple treasure begins.

Thiruvananthapuram: Two committees appointed by the Supreme Court Thursday started taking stock and estimating the value of the jewels, gems and precious metals kept inside one of the six vaults of the ancient Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple here.
The committee members met at the temple Wednesday to plan the valuation process of the items lying inside 'Vault A'. 
Gemologists are assisting the committees in the valuation. Equipments have been brought from Germany for the job.
The committees is expected to submit an interim report on the stocktaking to the court Aug 8, a member said.
One of the committees is headed by M.V. Nair and the other by Justice (retd) M.N. Krishnan. The committees also have representatives from the state government, the erstwhile Travancore royal family, the temple's custodians and experts.
In July last year, the committees stumbled upon six vaults in the temple. Five vaults were opened, except for the sixth 'Vault B'.
They estimated the value of the treasure to be more that Rs.one lakh crore, with items in Vault A the most valuable among the five.
When Vault A was opened last year, it was found filled with rubies, diamonds, statues of deities and gold coins.
Last year, T.P. Sunderarajan, 70, a former police officer, approached the court, requesting it to take stock of items in the temple. He alleged that the temple was not being managed properly

Case filed against K.K.Ragesh

. Kozhikode: Case has been filed against CPM state committee member, K.K.Ragesh, in connection with the case related to the murder of RMP leader T.P.Chandrasekharan. He has been arraigned on charges of providing cover to CPM area committee member, P.K.Kunjanandan who was arrested earlier  in connection with the case. 

He has been incriminated on the basis of confessional statement given by Sarin Sasi, the Kannur district secretary of SFI, who has also been arrested in the case related to T.P.Chandrasekharan's murder

Case filed against K.K.Ragesh

. Kozhikode: Case has been filed against CPM state committee member, K.K.Ragesh, in connection with the case related to the murder of RMP leader T.P.Chandrasekharan. He has been arraigned on charges of providing cover to CPM area committee member, P.K.Kunjanandan who was arrested earlier  in connection with the case. 

He has been incriminated on the basis of confessional statement given by Sarin Sasi, the Kannur district secretary of SFI, who has also been arrested in the case related to T.P.Chandrasekharan's murder