Friday TechTips Special Edition – Conficker

At midnight tonight, the Conficker Worm is set to unleash itself on the world. Conficker also know as Worm:Win32/Conficker.D appeared in late 2008. When the clock turns 12:00 AM on 04/01/2009 the worm will start searching a randomized list of domains for further instructions. It may be a complete spoof or possibly the launch of another large scale botnet, where an “owned” computer is part of a vast network of hacked systems which can be used to launch attacks against websites, governments, etc. It’s unlikely that a UR computer is infected due to the diligence of our great networking group, however it’s possible that you may have friends and family who will discover their computer is infected. They might even look to you for help! Here are a couple of resources that you can recommend to them:

• Update from Microsoft – http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/archive/2009/03/27/update-on-conficker-d.aspx

• Conficker Working Group (Microsoft partner) – http://www.confickerworkinggroup.org/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=ANY.RepairTools which includes a number of tools to remove the worm from leading computer security companies.

In a semi-related note, a Canadian research team at the Munk Center for International Studies has discovered a vast spy network of hacked computers spreading across 103 countries. Targeted systems include computers that are in government and corporate offices. They nicknamed the network Ghostnet and traced it to China, but have not implicated the Chinese Government. To learn more about this story visit:

• PC World – http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/162178/ghostnet_highlights_evolving_threat_environment.html

• Reuters article – http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090328/ts_nm/us_security_spying_computers

It’s a brave new world and more important than ever to make sure your computer(s) is  protected! As UR employees you can download Sophos for home users here – https://wwws.richmond.edu/software (UR login required). If you need to recommend something for friends or family, you may want to have them visit AVG Free – http://free.avg.com, which according to their site provides “comprehensive protection” at no cost.

Be safe!