Conficker Worm

[Mr. Bloom]

Is this for real? Has anyone here had a problem?

It seems to me it's overhyped (likely by the advertising hungry search engines). I understand that the only folks at serious risk are those with:
- pirated Operating Systems
- outdated security updates (mine updates automatically)
- outdated virus software (mine updates automatically)

I'm sitting here in front of the news and they've given it 10 minutes each hour...and they've reported that "they are monitoring the wires to see what's happening..." Geez, I feel safer knowing that... the youthful "John Daubenspeck, Computer User" in an interview reports that he's not using his computer today!

[OakLeaf]

I think you'd be amazed at the number of people who don't keep their OS or antivirus updated... who don't "lock the doors" on a new computer (which, why they ship so wide open, I don't know)... and who will just click on any old email attachment. I see it all the time from my friends and in-laws.

[Ana]

My IT department sent out a message about it..basically they said it could be inert but to be prepared anyway and as long as your antivirus is updated, you'd be fine :)

[tulip]

Alot of people don't have updated antivirus software. I work from home and I'm vigilant about it as I can be, but I don't have an IT department to make sure things go well. I hope I've done all I need to do, but I'm not a computer person. I bet alot of people will be affected by it. Too bad there are people in the world who can't seem to use their smarts for good purposes. Why is that?

[Aggie_Ama]

I heard it was mostly hype. Uhhh and I forgot to reboot my home computer to update the anti-virus so let's hope but it does have a firewall up and the anti-virus updated last week it just wanted to again this weekend. Work is up to date with about 6 virus programs running.

[Zen]

AV is current but I ran a complete scan this AM. That scan is still going on and it's been two hours now :rolleyes:

I'm sure not entering any bank account info, though.

[GLC1968]

I just find the fact that no one on the news can pronounce 'McAfee' correctly, hilarious!

My husband is an account manager for them and he thinks it's cool that internet security is getting so much air time. ;)

I have not asked his opinion on the virus itself, but I do know that he's spent a LOT of time on it for his clients in the past week (all large businesses with multiple/complicated systems...not individual users). My company has also had some real issues with it with our main systems/databases (prior to today).

[Skierchickie]

I just find the fact that no one on the news can pronounce 'McAfee' correctly, hilarious!

So, FINALLY, someone who knows the correct pronunciation! Which is???:confused: I never know (I haven't been faced with the issue that often). I assume it's like McDonald or Mc....., Mc....., McMuffin! Mc-Aaa-fee? Probably not Mick-uh-fee. Or Mick-Ay-fee. I dunno!

[OakLeaf]

:confused: I thought McAfee software was pronounced the same way as the name usually is (MAK-ǝ-fē). Is it pronounced some other way?


OTOH, I'm still trying to get DH, who got a Mac this year for his photography after years of Windows only, to say "OS TEN." :rolleyes:

[GLC1968]

Mack-a-fee with the emphasis on the first syllable. :D

The news guys have said Ma-caf-ee, Ma-caf-ery, Mac-affree, you name it...everything except the right way. And McAfee has a major develoment center in this area (the high level guys who develop the code to defeat these viruses) so it would take only a simple, local, phone call to learn the right way to say it. If I were a news reporter and was so unsure that I said it differently each and every time I said it, I'd have made that call before air-time! :p

[smurfalicious]

This thing has been around, and infecting systems since October of '08. So unless you're infected today is just another day. It's likely just another day for those who are. This article puts it nicely:

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/032709-fears-of-a-conficker-meltdown.html

[tctrek]

I'm just glad I have a Mac.. don't need to worry about these goofy viruses. Whoever writes these worms/viruses needs to get a life... they should go ride a bike or something!

[emily_in_nc]

This site contains some good information and a check-up of whether your PC is infected, but the simplest tip I learned is that if you can even browse to this site, you don't have Conficker, since the worm itself blocks links that have the word "Conficker" in them:

http://www.confickerworkinggroup.org/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=ANY.RepairTools

Haven't heard of anyone who has actually been infected, thankfully!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Be careful. There are some sites out there that claim to help you find out if you have the worm- and they are actually set up to infect you with it when you go to the site and start clicking around following instructions. I wouldn't trust any site other than well known sites such as Microsoft.com or Symantic.com, or other well known anti-virus sites.
The best defense?- keep your OS updated with security updates, and keep a good anti-virus program updated and running in the background at all times. A firewall too.

[firenze11]

Also, be careful if you're on a Mac and are running Windows on Parallels (or probably Bootcamp for that matter). They can be affected if they run Windows. :rolleyes:

[tzvia]

If you keep your AV software up to date, patch your computers, and watch where you surf and what you download and install, your odds of catching something go down. It also helps to have a good quality router/firewall between yourself and the internet, along with a software firewall product. Part of my job is virus control at work; I'm responsible for 3400 desktops, and I cleaned up several Conflickers last week, before the AV vendor had a pattern file for it. Most our viruses (really worms and trojans these days), come in from our 700 laptop users who take their machines outside our proxy/perimeter, get infected, then bring the machine back in. Once they are outside, we can't control how/where they are used.

I clean malicious software for a living, and while Conflicker sounded really bad in the news, it was an easy one to clean up manually. I've seen far worse.

[Mr. Bloom]

tzvia:

I've heard that a wireless router acts as a firewall by itself...is this true?

"Watching where you surf"...are these issues still contained to the porn/spam sites or have the offensive sites become more mainstream?

Thoughts?

[OakLeaf]

I don't know much about this stuff, but I do know that wireless routers sold for home use normally have a firewall built in. You still have to set it up, same as you do with your computer's built-in firewall, but my limited experience is that routers ship with their firewall defaults set a lot tighter than Windows does.


But actually, the reason I'm posting here this morning is that two of my favorite sites appear to have been hacked (and one of them is the Superbike World Championship, which may not be F1 or MotoGP, but there's enough money behind it that they ought to run a pretty tight website). I don't know if the Downadup/Conficker worm has anything to do with it, but it's kind of coincidental, two sites the same day.

[emily_in_nc]

Be careful. There are some sites out there that claim to help you find out if you have the worm- and they are actually set up to infect you with it when you go to the site and start clicking around following instructions.

Sorry Lisa -- I should have noted that the site I linked to was provided in the "Windows Secrets" newsletter I get weekly. It's legit, well-respected, and hasn't steered me wrong in years of reading. They sent an entire issue about Conficker within the past week, and the site in my post above was one they mentioned. It's legit. But I do completely agree with what you say and would never have gone there if I hadn't read about it in Windows Secrets. I've been online for fourteen years and have never been infected because I am cautious to the point of paranoia -- and I'm a software developer myself. :cool: