Apr092009

Conficker - What now?

Now that the news media and computer security firms have managed to stir the entire computing world into an almost out of control frenzy, what's really going on?  The dreaded Conficker evolution of April 1 was, for most US users, a big yawn right up there with the feared Y2K meltdown.  That is not to say you have nothing to fear and there is no danger of your computer becoming infected with this or some other form of malware.

There's good and bad to come from both the Conficker and Y2K hype.  On the upside, any news that heightens awareness among computer users of their computing environment and the potential dangers and methods used by the bad guys is a good thing.  The downside is, anytime an event is so overly hyped, it's easy to become complacent when nothing bad happens in our immediate little universe.

I've talked about dangers of fake Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware products in the past.  I mention this because it appears the underlying plan of Conficker's payload is to ultimately sucker you into the same kind of trap.  Security firm Trend Micro says some machines have recently been updated  with fake antivirus software in an apparent attempt by Conficker's authors to profit from their massive botnet.

Consider yourself warned, if you receive ANY messages on screen from anything other than your already installed security solution claiming your computer is infected, it could be Conficker, or any of the many other rogue programs out there designed to make your computing life hell while extorting your money.

If you suspect your computer may be infected, don't wait and wonder, contact the St. George PC Doctor today.



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Mar312009

Conficker Worm update

See this link for a great collection of Conficker detection and removal tools.



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Mar302009

Conficker Worm expected to evolve April 1

Your best defense? Make certain your PC is up to date on all critical patches for your version of Windows. Microsoft has modified it's free "Malicious software removal tool" to detect and eliminate Conficker.

How dangerous is Conficker? Dangerous enough that there is a $250,000 bounty on the heads of those responsible. It's the potential for havoc including password and identity theft that has IT departments scrambling to get a handle on this. Read more about this extremely dangerous worm here

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