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Mainstream Media’s fascination with the Conficker virus is somewhat amusing, but the actions of the world’s most famous computer trogan on the other hand are not. According to Fox News, Conficker is finally starting to show signs of life and has begun organizing thousands of machines into a botnet to send email spam and spread malware.
Anybody running anti virus or Windows update is pretty much protected from Conficker at this point, but amazingly this still leaves millions of machines to worry about. It remains to be seen how much longer Conficker will continue to plague the web, but hopefully at the very least this brings computer security to the minds of mainstream users.
So Conficker is spreading spam and spyware eh? Anyone surprised?
Comments are closed on this article
jesicajame
May 02, 2009 at 9:01am
When you are searching for a great scan that can help you keep your computer running like new, I would suggest that you visit http://www.Search-and-destroy.com. Here I found the antispyware solution from Search-and-destroy and it was exactly what I needed to protect my computer and eliminate the bugs and viruses that would make it run slow, freeze up and shut down. Search-and-destroy Antispyware was the answer to my computer bug problems and it was certainly worth every penny I spent to have this great antispyware to protect my PC. Not only does it work great but it cost less than many of the other scans available.
FrancesTheMute
April 27, 2009 at 10:06am
I'm disappointed. I was hoping for something cool like the Conficker causing a zombie apocalypse or something.
I Jedi
April 27, 2009 at 6:43am
What most people fail to do is realize that they can make themselves 100% safer by following and practicing safe-web browsing. These are several steps that I personally follow and it has worked great for me for the past two years now...
One: Never visit sites you don't know/trust. Obviously visiting a new site you can never know if you can trust them or not, which is why I recommend users get HauteSecure and Web of Trust (WOT) They are both community based and sites are rated on rather they're safe, bad, contain inappropriate content, etc. Lastly, use common sense.. Don't go around just clicking every link your mouse pointer can find..
Two: Download and use a host file for Windows users. A GREAT host file that eliminates DOZENS upon DOZENS of bad sites can be found here at: http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm The host file will COMPLETELY block all incoming transmissions from a site blacklisted on the host file. Best of all, you can add your own sites, too, by editing the host file in notepad.
Three: Never download files at random and don't accept files from unstrusted sources. This is probably the golden rule of web surfing and it is a rule generally broken on a daily bases by millions. Do Not Download that which you DO NOT trust, know what it is, and whom it came from. Right there you eliminate a huge risk to yourself and to your computer.
Four: Get a good anti-virus program, anti-spyware, anti-malware, etc.. Run them AT LEAST once a week. I prefer to run my anti-virus program, though, on a daily bases. It is important to the security of your information, your computers state of health, etc. The faster you catch a dangerous file, the better.
Here is a good article to protecting yourself in step four:
http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic58138.html
Five: Choose a good, safe web browser. I'm personally attached to Firefox, but that's just me. Choose one with GOOD protection. I DON'T recommend Internet Explorer, as it takes forever for M$ to update it when vulnerabilities are discovered.
Lastly: You, you, you, and you are the most safest way to ensure that your computer remains clean, happy, and ready to use at your disposal. You are the man behind the chair making the calls where you go on your computer, so be smart, be safe, and be cautious. This does not mean you have to act like its defcon 1 and you're going to be attacked at every second possible, no. However, it does mean that you should be cautious about what you do online, but DONT be a looney and act like you've got to unplug your Internet conection everytime you walk away from the computer.
Just look at Gordon... He never uses protection online and says he never gets screwed over because he's safe, he says, about what he does online. (Though I think he's nuts for it.)
Tyler
aldude505
April 27, 2009 at 1:18pm
All very good points, but I think your last one is the best. People need to realize that it shouldn't fall just on the hands of their anti-virus or adware/malware detection software to catch every piece of crap that comes from the Internet. I don't know how many computer's I've cleaned and asked when things started to go wrong and people say, well it told me i won so i clicked on it...Hmmm
Cache
April 27, 2009 at 4:50am
You know, just once I'd almost like to see something like this just cause hard drive damage and screw over millions of people. NOT because I want to see all those people suffer or anything like that, but maybe if something big like millions of people with data loss occurred, people would really start taking antivirus more seriously. Not to mention that the government would be forced to start finding the people who create/use these things. Sure, it's a sucky way to motivate people, but figure seat belts weren't mandatory until people started adding up the body count.
zyx_maiden
April 27, 2009 at 5:32am
Don't you know it has already happend? I remenber the famous CIH virus, also known as Chernobyl. Is actions was to overwriting critical information on infected system drives, and more importantly, in some cases corrupting the system BIOS. So some poeple had to replace bios chips or their motherboard to boot their PC again... I don't think I want it to happen again!
Cache
April 27, 2009 at 7:01am
Oh, I'm not saying I would want it to happen--but unfortunately people only get motivated to do things because it's too expensive not to. In this case, millions of people ignore some of the most basic, elemental things and in turn cause mayhem. Really--how hard is it to allow Windows to update?
I Jedi
April 27, 2009 at 12:32pm
Hell, my Dad probably has no idea where the Windows Update button is and my Mom just let's Windows update install anything.
