If your computer has been performing much slower than usual or you think you have a bad modem, you may be part of the Utopia.net DNS Hijacking. You should check all of your systems for malware, and then make sure your devices are getting their DNS servers set automatically from Comcast or manually.
What?
DNS: Domain Name System
DNS Server: DNS Server allows users to use common naming conventions (normally similar to their company name) as an address instead of a public IP address, such as google.com instead of 172.217.16.14. This is needed so the IP addresses can change without affecting how they are accessed.
DNS Hijacking: When internet traffic that is supposed to be destined for a known good location or wanted location is changed to an unwanted location without knowledge or consent.
Who?
Malicious actors: people or groups who want to infect machines with malware which can change your DNS Servers to known bad ones with malicious intent.
Utopia.net: Know indicator of a DNS Hijacking
Utopia has been plaguing Comcast for some time now and many think they are just having internet issues or a bad modem. But one of the causes is DNS Hijacking.
So how can you tell? There are many tools but one is built into your system already. Windows users can use command (cmd) prompt and everyone else it’s terminal. Windows user can just open a command (cmd) prompt and type ipconfig /all. This will show lots of information. What we are looking for here is the “Connection-specific DNS Suffix” and DNS Servers. Everyone else opens terminal and type cat /etc/resolv.conf and it will say the DNS name and IP. If you identify you are affected by this then you may have more underlying problems and need to seek a security professional for assistance.