There has been a bit of controversy about the validity of the threat of this worm, but regardless, the basic measures needed to prevent this is something all users should do anyway.
In an event that hits the computer world only once every few years, security experts are racing against time to mitigate the impact of a bit of malware which is set to wreak havoc on a hard-coded date. As is often the case, that date is April 1. Malware creators love to target April Fool's Day with their wares, and the latest worm, called Conficker C, could be one of the most damaging attacks we've seen in years. Conficker first bubbled up in late 2008 and began making headlines in January as known infections topped 9 million computers. Now in its third variant, Conficker C, the worm has grown incredibly complicated, powerful, and virulent... though no one is quite sure exactly what it will do when D-Day arrives.
In an event that hits the computer world only once every few years, security experts are racing against time to mitigate the impact of a bit of malware which is set to wreak havoc on a hard-coded date. As is often the case, that date is April 1.
Malware creators love to target April Fool's Day with their wares, and the latest worm, called Conficker C, could be one of the most damaging attacks we've seen in years.
Conficker first bubbled up in late 2008 and began making headlines in January as known infections topped 9 million computers. Now in its third variant, Conficker C, the worm has grown incredibly complicated, powerful, and virulent... though no one is quite sure exactly what it will do when D-Day arrives.
What do you need to do?
A) If the military isn't completely and utterly stupid (OK, no comment), as another poster pointed out they have all the appropriate updates and what not.
If they have one ounce of sense, one fraction of a gram of sense, the computers running the nuclear missile silo's aren't networked. No hacker can hack what they can't even touch.
you know, i change my Bitdefender System Security to Kaspersky Internet Security becouse this one (kaspersky) has a very nice option that during the full system analisis it will show you if your system has some areas that need to check (vulnerabilities)....
...and that Bitdefender is a pain on the ass, it makes many programs (including WMP) to crash.
Experts don't think it will work as the virus will be getting the date and time from an internet time server (which WILL be correct) and ignoring the local system clock...
As for the launching of nuclear missiles etc... Don't they require a security turn key to enable the launch circuits? I wasn't aware a virus could do that....
Here is what happens: The virus hacks the nuclear missile launch systems. Then, it forces the operators monitors to display a hypnotic pattern, and tells the nuclear launch guys to fire. The nuke guys can't disobey, and so turn the key. Simple.
Samurye.
the virus could bypass that requirement because, ultimately, the missles are launched by a computer.
If that isn't some Hollywood fabrication then no, a virus couldn't do that.
Due to this topic, I have decided to boot into Fedora 10 and not use Windows for a few days, just incase the worm gets more infections after it is activated. Also I have filled my bathtub with water and but on my helmet just for good measure.
Yet another virus only retards need to worry about. It's not even considered a moderate threat, let alone high, patched out last october...
The guy that coded it is probably laughing his ass off at all the retards in the media.
Nah, teh n00b's are the idiots upgrading to vista with their 2 gigs of ram.
The U.S. stockpile of Nuclear Missiles is impervious to any outside influence. Trust me. There is no way to launch the missiles without the presence of the Launch codes. And about 50,000 Other failsafes the public isn't even aware of.
Developing Nuclear nations (Iran, North Korea, ect) I cannot defend however, you can prolly make a phone call to drop an A.bomb (Granted, their delivery systems have very limited range)
Trust me, Conficker is NOT about taking control of the US or any other nuclear arsenal. Nope, it's about bringing Capitalism down and sending the big banks bust.
I got this straight from a Ukranian garage collector who migrated to Oz for the sun and surf... who heard it from a friend who, heard it from a friend who, heard it from an aunt who, heard it from her daughter, who heard it on the grapevine in the Kremlin.
Yup, Conficker was designed to infiltrate the computers on Wall St and the big banks, with the express intent of creaing bad deals, evaporating funds and canceling good and profitable deals.... to cancel the credit of the auto makers and send them bankrupt.
As recent events show... it is working.
I dont know how much it cost a pc with Vista Home Basic where you leave but to be honest you dont need a Super PC to run Vista...
Well., sry for my noobish and idiotic self..., but i was getting tired of WinXP.., WinXP will die one day as Win95, Win98 and Win2000..., Microsoft will end it support for WinXP users.., and yes Windows Vista is the worst fail of Microsoft and my arguement is about upgrade to a new system.., Vista or 7....
Long live Win98
I think its dumb that Firewalls that "attack back" are illegal. When someone sends me a worm, not only do I want to stop it from getting to my system, I want to send it back.
Ps. There are firewalls out there that do that........Its just not quite a good idea to use it unless you are using peerguardian as well as a ton of other things to protect yourself.
I lol'd.
That's wonderful!
This reminds me of Y2K.
I just got home and opened Word....and after a few strokes this comes up...... and cripples Word
only way I can close it is through task manager...
I've had this copy since 2004...never seen this before...
Looks like you got the "Conflictor" worm Syd!
maybe it will evolve into the tequila worm ...then I'd have a shot at getting rid of it....
Did you just recently install upgrades to Windows? I noticed yesterday that the Genuine Advantage was in my upgrade package...
Unfortunately, the answer to that question is "yes."
64 bit vista's compatibility with 32 bit software is pretty much perfect.
tequila worm's only lead to DEvolving
yes messiah.....last week....maybe it's kosher then.... just odd timing on april 1
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