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Beware of Conficker Worm
By Raghavendra Rao of Poornaprajna Cyber Quest
Laxity in updating security software and enforcing password security may affect your computer and expose it to a worm attack. The latest worm to hit the internet connections in recent weeks is a new generation worm called Conficker or Downadups. It has affected millions and millions of personal and business computers. It is not yet known who has programmed it or what would be the next stage of it. However, this digital plague has sent even the security experts into wilderness. They guess this to be the first stage of the multistage attack.
A malicious software program, conficker or downadup, has swept through corporate, education and public computer networks around the world. It is spread by a recently discovered Microsoft Windows vulnerability, by guessing network passwords and by hand carried consumer gadgets like USB keys. Internet experts opine that it is the Microsoft word infection. You better recall a similar Slammer worm exploded through the Internet in 2003 and had infected as many as nine million personal computers around the world. Conficker or downadup rebounds around the internet at lightning speed. They also harness infected computers into unified systems called botnets. These botnets can then accept programming instructions from their clandestine masters. The next stage is not yet seen. This worm infects computer systems in such a way that it would not be known even to the computer users that their machines have been infected. This worm crystallizes and operates undetected bringing a headache to the computer security researchers. It might operate in the background, using the infected computer to send spam or infect other computers, or it might steal the PC user’s personal information. Microsoft team has rushed an emergency patch to defend the Windows operating systems against this vulnerability in October, 2008. But to no avail. The worm has continued to spread even as the level of warnings has grown in recent weeks. Security researches at Qualys, a Silicon Valley security firm, estimated that about 30 per cent of Windows based computers attached to the Internet remain vulnerable because they have not been updated with the patch, despite the fact that it was made available in October, 2008. The firm’s estimate is based on a survey of nine million internet addresses. Conficker is thriving because both the individuals and companies are not caring for updating their security software programmes. It is necessary that they install updating system immediately to avoid this malware called conficker. Timely update and password security is the need of the hour.
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May, 2012
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