Can't get to ANY .mil web sites

[dholeski]

My wife can no longer get to any .mil web sites from our home verizon network.  We can access them just fine away from home.  Something has changed with the verizon network.  This has been a problem for about 1 week.  Anyone else having this issue?  Any advice?  I've used PING and NSLOOKUP without any sucess.  There are no problems with our router as far as I can tell.

THANKS

[Gerard_Sr]

I just logged in to https://www.us.army.mil without any problems.

Maybe the DNS server in your modem or default one in your system internet connection is at fault.

With my system, windows-2000, Under Local Area Connection, Properties,  Highlight Internet Protocol, Properties (in that window),

I have mine set to use the following DNS server addresses....

Preferred:  4.2.2.2

Alternate:  4.2.2.4

This was GTEI.net and now is Verizon

Or you can use Google's DNS servers:

Preferred: 8.8.8.8

Alternate: 8.8.4.4

My windows-7 machine is set to Obtain DNS server address automatically.

I also can get into the army mil site with that machine.

Ping may not result in getting a result from a mil domain because of their security settings.

Who knows what bogus, trojan, or mallware sites may have done or could have done to your settings. That setting in your computer is a good target for them. Just think about it, if they wanted to prevent you from getting to a .mil site, they could have reset your settings to go to their designated nameserver. This would also leave a trail of what sites you have visited.

Cordially,

Gerry

[smith6612]

I'm able to hit their website without an issue on my end. I wouldn't bother with trying to run a Traceroute to this one, since naturally many Government networks Firewall ICMP Echo traffic or shoot it into a DMZ. An nslookup to see what IPs you're getting would work just fine, though and would prove a DNS issue if something did mess with your DNS settings.

I've also loaded up some other websites like navy.mil, af.mil, army.mil, and marines.mil. No problems with any of them and they came right up without hesitation.

[dholeski]

Hi Gerry - Thanks for the info.  I'm not an expert with computer networking so this is a challenge.  We are running a WIN7 machine with auto DNS as well.  I did a Network Diag test from WIN7 and got the following result:

Windows Network Diagnostics

Publisher details

Issues found
Your computer appears to be correctly configured, but the device or resource (DNS server) is not res... Your computer appears to be correctly configured, but the device or resource (DNS server) is not responding	Detected
Contact your network administrator or Internet service provider (ISP) Completed

We can get to all websites except the .mil ones.  Wouldn't a DNS problem prevent us from getting to all sites?  Any suggestions?

Thanks

Dan

[Gerard_Sr]

Well if it's not responding, I would manually insert a DNS IP address and try it again.

With the changes in .MIL security, it maybe could prevent access to a .MIL site.

Click on the icon in the bottom right of your task bar that indicates Internet Access

On the next screen, click on Local Area Connection 

Then click on Properties

Highlight Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)

Then click on Properties in that window.

On this pop-up window you'll see Obtain an IP address automatically and Obtain DNS server address automatically are checked. Change it to Use the following DNS server address

Then insert the numbers I gave in the previous post. (Try the first set and then Google's set ).

Finally you'll need to open a DOS window, (actually a command prompt), by opening the Start menu and in the search box type CMD. It will find one program CMD.EXE, Click on it to open a command prompt window.

In that window, type ipconfig /flushdns ( in caps it looks like: IPCONFIG (space)(slash) FLUSHDNS )

This will clear your DNS resolver cache. Some say rebooting the machine will do the same. Windows-7, I'm not absolutely sure.

You may also have to clear your Browser's cache.

Then try to get to the .MIL site.

Worst case, if this does not work, I would suggest contacting the .MIL help desk for the domain you need to access.

For example, the number for the Army Knowledge Online (AKO) help desk is 1-866-335-2769

You can try them to obtain a help desk number for the particular branch you are associated with if not the Army..

They are GOOD PEOPLE and will help you out as much as they can, be prepared to provide some information from your last pay stub or DD-214 for verification of who you are.

Cordially,

Gerry

[dholeski · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the info.  Before going that far, I decided to hook directly to the modem, and all the .mil sites worked.  Thus the problem was the router.  I could not tell why the router would work great except for the .mil sites, so I reset it to factory defaults.  After all of that, all was back to normal.  Very strange, and I learned a few things on this one: always try HW resets before going further!!!

Dan

[prisaz]

Make sure you change your router admin and or user account passwords from the default passwords. There are different versions of malware that can go in and mess with your settings. Many DSL and other modems will issue a public address directly to a wan port on the router. Huge security risk if you do not change the routers administrative password from the default.

If visiting .mil sites, you for sure would not want anyone accessing anything through your router. Someone could come down hard on you, and it would be a real pain to show it did not come from your home. Even when it did. Get my point.

I would also make sure your computer is well protected by AV software, such as Avast free version. Also Malwarebytes is another good anti malwarw program. In your case, I would for sure want to know my machine is clean.

[smith6612]

Glad to hear the problem was solved 🙂