Smartbro DNS is hijacked by Akratz.com and it’s not a good thing. It’s been more than a week already since I noticed that typing a wrong domain in my browser’s address bar shows me a page with lots of links on it. There are pornographic links and lots of gibberish as well. I am using Linux so the possibility of having adware/spyware on my PC is minimal but I checked anyway. I checked by switching my other laptop and my desktop PC on and tried visiting in a non-existent domain. Surely, they too were showing the same weird page.
Clicking one of the links shows up a page that looks like this:
At this point, I already knew there was something wrong with my network connection - most probably with my ISP which by the way is Smart Bro. I checked with other Smart Bro users and it appears that it’s not everywhere. Some reported the same thing and others reported a normal error page. I searched the internet and found one forum topic that discusses the same problem.
The Solution
At the forum, they mentioned that a good solution would be to use OpenDNS. I’ve already heard of OpenDNS before but I didn’t really give much time to learn more about it until now. Good thing I tried OpenDNS because it did fix my problem and DNS lookups appear to be faster.
They provide easy to follow instructions on how to change your DNS which is a big help non-techies but he best part is that it’s totally free. After changing my DNS, I decided to sign-up for a free account to make use of OpenDNS features such as adult website filtering which will help me make sure that my children are visiting kid-friendly websites only.
Who is Akratz? The whois info for the domain says the domain owner is from Netherlands but that can be spoofed. It also appears that Akratz not only hi-jacks DNS but also websites, at least according to this forum. Whoever they are, it’s pretty obvious that the person owning the domain is a very evil hacker that must be put behind bars.
Lastly, kudos to the guys and gals at OpenDNS. You’re helping make the internet a better and safer place for all of us.
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:35 am
Smartbro should definitely this vulnerability in their DNS and yes, hat tip to OpenDNS. It has preset features to block particular sites by category.
April 23rd, 2008 at 8:45 am
I also used SmartBro, try to contact their support and tell them this problem, I’ll bet you would be amused about their answers. LOL. Hopefully Smartbro’s network admin would read this post then we would see some action about it.
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:49 am
@Abel: SmartBro definitely must fix this
@Carey: I do hope their sysads see this. As for reporting to support, well I can already imagine what they’d say. Stuff like, “Sir, have you tried this and that…?” That’s the reason why I didn’t bother reporting.
April 26th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Having the same problems.. I thought that it was my pc.. I’ve update my anti-virus and scanned my computer twice. I even downloaded 3 anti-spyware and anti-rootkit for this..
April 29th, 2008 at 10:46 am
Sir I need your help. I’m having the same problem too. I tried signing up for an account at OpenDNS but when I’m asked to add a network, the IP address that I provide says it’s already taken. What IP address should I enter?
I badly need your help.
btw, I’m using a Mac computer.
May 1st, 2008 at 12:45 am
Hi Jomari,
I skipped that part because we don’t have static IP addresses. It’ll work even if you skip that part.
Mike
May 26th, 2008 at 3:42 am
Ok guys, consider this issue reported. I wonder what’s so amusing though.
May 28th, 2008 at 2:21 am
Hi Jim!
Thanks for the action. I was actually thinking of reporting this problem before but thought not to do so mainly because I know that I’ll probably end up with a customer service rep who won’t have an idea of what I’ll be telling him or her.
Oh by the way, what’s the up with Smart Bro’s service for the past few weeks? It’s way below the good experience I’ve been having before. I’m in fact online at this moment using a dial-up connection because my internet’s been down for more than 24 hours now… And yes, I already reported this.
Mike
June 16th, 2008 at 5:34 am
[...] Well the real truth is the problem is on SmartBro’s DNS servers. My friend Mike posted an article that the DNS has been hacked, visit here. [...]
July 30th, 2008 at 12:07 am
DoS attacks day and night. Have any of you already experienced this? My firewall had intercepted and still reporting various scanning, sniffing activities for the past few weeks up to now.
August 14th, 2008 at 10:34 am
[...] bro users.. but anyway.. I think the problem has something to do with Smart Bro’s DNS servers: Smartbro DNS Hijacjed by Akratz.com | Mike’s Technology Blog I’ve been experiencing the same problem for some days now. Some pictures in Friendster won’t load, [...]
August 15th, 2008 at 1:24 am
We have the same problem… thanks for the tip… I emailed Smart bro about the problem.. in any case I’ll switch to OpenDNS to solve the problem.
August 18th, 2008 at 9:24 am
[...] bro users.. but anyway.. I think the problem has something to do with Smart Bro’s DNS servers: Smartbro DNS Hijacjed by Akratz.com | Mike
August 19th, 2008 at 12:17 am
until now this problem is not resolved yet, many are still experiencing this problem.
August 19th, 2008 at 12:26 am
Yes you’re right Carey. Also, I’ve heard from many other Smart Bro users that Smart’s technical support is not really of any help.
Well, I’m glad I moved over to Globe. For the same amount that I pay Smart I get 1mbps versus Smart’s 384kbps and so far, I’ve only experienced one down time.
August 19th, 2008 at 12:30 am
i found this blog post has been linked several times, it would be bad marketing for SmartBro and good for Globe.
If Globe is available in our area, I will surely switch to Globe.
August 19th, 2008 at 10:24 am
[...] Posted by dexterdal @cloud curious lang ko, naa ka link na na hack ang DNS sa smartbro? Smartbro DNS Hijacjed by Akratz.com | Mike’s Technology Blog mao ni nga link bro plus kanang mga screenshot mu gawas gyud na siya bro instead of the site nga [...]
August 19th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
[...] Posted by cloud Smartbro DNS Hijacjed by Akratz.com | Mike
August 20th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
i swear to god, these mofos need to be taught a lesson. thank god for opendns. i have been bugging smart about this matter, but they are as attentive as a child with adhd.
August 20th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
this is BS! smartbro should fix this really soon!
August 22nd, 2008 at 8:51 am
I just think the Smart Bro tech are lazy and most of them are incompetent (98%), I think they even recycle their router every 12mn on our starting last weekend, I guess they couldn’t be bothered to fix the problem.
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:34 pm
there is a BIG PROBLEM when you use OpenDNS with SmartBro…why??
because in SmartBro there are like 10-20 people sharing the same IP addresss…and with opendns it is IP related meaning every setting you made with opendns (like adult filtering etc.) it will also affect other people who share the same IP with you, especially if that person is also using opendns…