Conficker Virus (Worm/Malware) - April Fools Day

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Watch CBS Videos Online

In an event that hits the computer world only once every few years, security experts are racing against time to mitigate the impact of a bit of malware which is set to wreak havoc on a hard-coded date. As is often the case, that date is April 1.

Malware creators love to target April Fool's Day with their wares, and the latest worm, called Conficker C, could be one of the most damaging attacks we've seen in years.

Conficker first bubbled up in late 2008 and began making headlines in January as known infections topped 9 million computers. Now in its third variant, Conficker C, the worm has grown incredibly complicated, powerful, and virulent... though no one is quite sure exactly what it will do when D-Day arrives.

Thanks in part to a quarter-million-dollar bounty on the head of the writer of the worm, offered by Microsoft, security researchers are aggressively digging into the worm's code as they attempt to engineer a cure or find the writer before the deadline. What's known so far is that on April 1, all infected computers will come under the control of a master machine located somewhere across the web, at which point anything's possible. Will the zombie machines become denial of service attack pawns, steal personal information, wipe hard drives, or simply manifest more traditional malware pop-ups and extortion-like come-ons designed to sell you phony security software? No one knows.

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/128643

The fast-moving Conficker computer worm, a scourge of the Internet that has infected at least 3 million PCs, is set to spring to life in a new way on Wednesday -- April Fools' Day.

That's when many of the poisoned machines will get more aggressive about "phoning home" to the worm's creators over the Internet. When that happens, the bad guys behind the worm will be able to trigger the program to send spam, spread more infections, clog networks with traffic, or try and bring down Web sites.

Technically, this could cause havoc, from massive network outages to the creation of a cyberweapon of mass destruction that attacks government computers. But researchers who have been tracking Conficker say the date will probably come and go quietly.

http://www.mlive.com/business/index.ssf/20...nficker_co.html

[hunhee]

:gets foil and flashlight ready:

Are you sure this isn't another one of those Y2K scares?

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Short Version? If your running windows...

Download this:

http://www.symantec.com/business/security_...-011316-0247-99

Removal tool, shut down all your running programs, disconnect from the net, run it. Reboot, repeat.

Then add this windows security update on your computer:

http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/31874/solution

[Troy Spiral (13)]

:gets foil and flashlight ready:

Are you sure this isn't another one of those Y2K scares?

That's likely exactly what it is, as hinted at above in several of the articles. No big movie-like doomsday event is going to occur, even in the worst (realistic) case scenario, it will just be a major headache. The last 3 times that this virus has "triggered in mass" all its done is gotten better at spreading itself but not actually doing anything harmful. (Which is pretty dang clever in and of itself... just keep spreading yourself until we decide to tell you to deliver the payload, for example.) Even if it does "go off" we won't see anything like in the movies. We might just how be the proud owner of 1000 spam messages, or have to figure out why all our passwords got stolen.

But, the threat is real enough to be prepared. Part of the reason Y2K didn't happen, is that tech across the world was ready for it and made sure it didn't happen. This is potentially a more serious threat than Y2K was, as Y2K was a design flaw problem, this is an intentional, "directed" type thing.

This one is only news due to it being so widespread. Similar netbot-worm type deals have been around for a long time. Just none have been as massively distributed as this one. Someone in the computer underworld will probably be making a killing off this thing. (for various reasons)

[ttogreh]

Automatic updating is a good thing, but I think I ought to head to the Windows Update site right NOW...

BRB.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Automatic updating is a good thing, but I think I ought to head to the Windows Update site right NOW...

BRB.

It has built-in stuff to defeat the more popular anti-virus software as well. Might want to run that symantec removal tool also. More likely than not you don't have the virus at all, but better safe than sorry. If you don't already, might as well run some sort of anti-virus full scan, there are plenty other malware (catch all term for Trojans, Worms, etc) that might pop up while we are worrying about this one heh.

[Msterbeau]

On a Mac. *Ignores*

[StormKnight (1)]

On a Mac. *Ignores*

Same here. However, since I share data with PC users all the time for research, I keep an anti-viral on board and use it as a courtesy. I hate to have my latest data from a project hide something that will spring something on my unsuspecting colleagues like the chestburster from Alien.

[candyman]

It has built-in stuff to defeat the more popular anti-virus software as well. Might want to run that symantec removal tool also. More likely than not you don't have the virus at all, but better safe than sorry. If you don't already, might as well run some sort of anti-virus full scan, there are plenty other malware (catch all term for Trojans, Worms, etc) that might pop up while we are worrying about this one heh.

This sucks because I think there is something wrong with my PC...but I am an idiot when it comes to computers. Does the fact that Internet Explorer keeps crapping out and freezing mean something bad? Or is that just normal?

[Troy Spiral (13)]

This sucks because I think there is something wrong with my PC...but I am an idiot when it comes to computers. Does the fact that Internet Explorer keeps crapping out and freezing mean something bad? Or is that just normal?

It means something bad at least in that there is something wrong. Not necessarily a virus though.

Despite the anti-Microsoft politics IE is pretty stable. But, if your browser has all sorts of random addons, which can accumulate and screw things up it might just be "normal". By normal I just mean that there isn't a virus doing it, just the usual computer problems. Its near impossible to really say though without a ton more details.

If its just a problem with IE, you might just want to try Firefox or Chrome as trying to get rid of all the bullshit that might be added to your IE install can be a pain if your not familiar with uninstalling things (sometimes even if you are it can be annoying.)

[asphyxian_doll]

It sounds like its just threatening on a very vague scale.

I'm not really worried about it....most viruses no matter how "dangerous" can be fixed with just a few steps in advance.

My worry would be for people who spend almost virtually NO time configuring and updating their virus software...which would ultimately lead in an IP address change and disk restore.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

It sounds like its just threatening on a very vague scale.

I'm not really worried about it....most viruses no matter how "dangerous" can be fixed with just a few steps in advance.

My worry would be for people who spend almost virtually NO time configuring and updating their virus software...which would ultimately lead in an IP address change and disk restore.

Yeah really the problem is more with people that just never run any sort of virus/maleware software and never running any security updates or even paying attention. Even though its rare there can be problems. I'm pretty computer savvy but several years ago I had my bank account "hacked" despite being fairly diligent about online security.

...and its already April fools day in terms of global time. The virus has already started to trigger and the latest news about it is that its just improving itself, not actually doing any harm yet. Last thing I read is that it is updating its system by which it gets new updates and improves itself. Similar to what it has done in the past.

[Scary Guy]

Fearmongering if you ask me. I run clamwin and watch my packets carefully. I've probably got better security than the NSA, but not quite as good as a box that isn't connected on the internet running OpenBSD in a room with heavy lead shielding.

[Rev.Reverence]

This sucks because I think there is something wrong with my PC...but I am an idiot when it comes to computers. Does the fact that Internet Explorer keeps crapping out and freezing mean something bad? Or is that just normal?

You may also just have to many windows & tabs open.

[Scary Guy]

This sucks because I think there is something wrong with my PC...but I am an idiot when it comes to computers. Does the fact that Internet Explorer keeps crapping out and freezing mean something bad? Or is that just normal?

The fact that you even use internet explorer means something bad. Go get firefox already! www.mozilla.com

Then get the adblock plus and noscript add-ons (google them). Your computer web browser wise will be totally secure unless you allow something to run that isn't supposed to.

Also run Spybot Search & Destroy (google it) and get Windows Defender from Microsoft.

This goes to everyone, not just him.

I also officially rebrand this the cornfucker virus :D Start spreading that around.

[Simon Bar Sinister]

stop letting your computers go down on questionable websites.

[/cyberprude]

[Oh_My_Goth]

[Rev.Reverence]

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

One of these days it's going to do something other than update it's code.

[Rev.Reverence]

One of these days it's going to do something other than update it's code.

..probably...or maybe they just want to make us think that!

[candyman]

Crap! They already stole all my porn and the $0.12 I had in my online account! This could be the worst thing that has happened to me since I mistakenly let my friend choose what he wanted to use to roll a joint...and he used the centerfold of the year page... ...it also ranks up there with that couch that eats change and never gives it back...just when I could use that bunch of dimes and quarters too...

[sexslavetrainer]

Crap! They already stole all my porn and the $0.12 I had in my online account! This could be the worst thing that has happened to me since I mistakenly let my friend choose what he wanted to use to roll a joint...and he used the centerfold of the year page... ...it also ranks up there with that couch that eats change and never gives it back...just when I could use that bunch of dimes and quarters too...

Centerfold?? What was he thinking... At least he should have tried to scrounge up an old bible or something to rip a page out of...

As for the .12, i can cover ya, but the porn is truly a sad loss. Please let us know if there is anything we can do for you during these challenging times.. lol