The Cellar - Conficker

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- Current Events (http://cellar.org/forumdisplay.php?f=4)

- - Conficker (http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=19936)

Anyone worried about this? Sounds pretty bad. Hopefully it is not a AF joke.

Quote:

Doing the worm: Tweak in 'Conficker' sparks fears
By JORDAN ROBERTSON – 21 minutes ago

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Even if it's not an April Fools' joke, the latest moves by the dreaded Conficker worm are by no means an Internet Armageddon, either. The worm's alarming outbreak entered a new phase Wednesday as clocks around the world ticked into the first day of April, the day it was scheduled to change programming.

But security experts appeared correct in their predictions that the day was likely to come and go without any major disruptions, even though the worm has infected anywhere from 3 million to 12 million PCs running Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system.

Computer infections now are all about making money by stealing people's personal information. And Conficker's authors stand to make more money from renting out parts of their huge "botnet" to spammers or identity thieves than by destroying parts of the Internet.

"These guys have been pretty smart until now — the worm is unfortunately very well done," said Patrik Runald, chief security advisor for F-Secure Corp. "So far they haven't been stupid. So why should they start on April 1?"

But panic over the worm had reached a frenzy.

Lori Lynn Pavlovich, a mother of four from Racine, Wis., unplugged her PC and vowed to stay offline for a week after seeing a local TV news report about the worm.

"I get scared real easy when it comes to stuff like that," she said. Pavlovich, who says she keeps her antivirus software and security patches up to date, got back online 24 hours later after a relative assured her that her system was safe.

In the last six months, the worm has also caused sleepless nights for the technicians who maintain corporate and governmental computer systems. European media reported that the French military grounded some of its fighter planes after the Navy's network was infected over the winter.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...eXagAD979ADVO0

I wasn't sure what it was supposed to do, but my system's fecking infested anyway. One of the little bastards managed to redirect my virus update and has basically taken control of avg :P various other updates (like windows update) have started acting awfully strange. This news story prompted me to do what I'd been intending to do vis a vis backing up my dissertation onto the university's fttp server.

Here's a tool to get rid of Conficker if you have it: http://download.cnet.com/Conficker-R...dlPid=11016361

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bullitt (Post 551759)

Here's a tool to get rid of Conficker if you have it

That is for Conficker A and B. The current threat is version C - a much nastier spawn.

Lifehacker to the rescue.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanaC (Post 551729)

One of the little bastards managed to redirect my virus update and has basically taken control of avg :P various other updates (like windows update) have started acting awfully strange.

Windows update comes two ways. Automatically every Tuesday. Or via WindowsUpdate.com Well, WindowsUpdate.com should detect and offer to download Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal tool every second Tuesday of the month. If it does not happen for you, then Windows Update may have been attacked and compromised.

Another excellent tool to detect a compromised system is Belarc Advisor from Belarc.com. It will list any Windows Update that has not been downloaded to your machine. Again, a symptom that those essential Windows updates have been compromised or hindered.

In the case of McAfee, first available is the McAfee Virtual Technician that detect compromises and sometimes fix the problem. If not, you must download a fresh copy of McAfee from their web site.

I am told (but have not confirmed) that a Conflicker contaminated machine will not log onto microsoft.com, Symantec.com, or Mcafee.com.

Good 'ol CNet always behind the curve, thanks for correcting Beest.

Well, I've got my clean bill of health. Just in case the ladies were nervous about interfacing with me.;)

I don't think it starts until April 1.

Fucking microshit sucks. I swear I am buying a mac as soon as I can afford a new computer. I have a cousin who is a VP at microsoft. I would be a lot more impressed if she worked at Apple.

Something took control of my computer a few days ago, but I think I got rid of it. I have several kinds of software recommended by majorgeeks.com, and it has always worked before.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanaC (Post 551729)

Dana, create a Gmail account and email your backups to it. Your uni's server is geographically close to your home computer, I have heard of horror stories where people have lost master copies and backups at the same time.

Admittedly, these were in the 2003 firestorms in Canberra, but still, it really sucked for those involved.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tw (Post 551782)

I am told (but have not confirmed) that a Conflicker contaminated machine will not log onto microsoft.com, Symantec.com, or Mcafee.com.

I'm not positive with microsoft.com but I know you shouldn't be able to go to Symantec or Mcafee's websites if you have Conflicker.

If you have automatic windows updates you should be fine.

A chart from the Washington Post demonstrates how trivial the threat is in America. Furthermore, Conflcker is not known to do anything destructive. It just has abilities to be destructive. The chart:

Quote:

Originally Posted by sugarpop (Post 551821)

Fucking microshit sucks. I swear I am buying a mac as soon as I can afford a new computer. I have a cousin who is a VP at microsoft. I would be a lot more impressed if she worked at Apple.

For some reason this sounds like that "I'd rather see my sister in a whorehouse than my brother on a Honda." that some bikers recite.

I detest my son's Mac. He had a problem with it recognizing an external drive and the path to fix the problem was very counter intuitive.

Here's a quick and dirty test to see if your machine is infected.
http://www.confickerworkinggroup.org...feyechart.html