Anyone hear about Conficker?

gamecube6 · Post by **gamecube6** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 4:27 pm

Apparently there's a worm that has infected millions of computers across the globe and is going to activate on April 1. I'm sure the vast majority of people on this forum have nothing to worry about due to firewalls, malware removers, running linux/mac, etc. What do you think is going to happen? Invasion of hundreds of computer companies? Spam on a massive scale? Skynet? The world's biggest rickroll?

Read up on it here.

http://gizmodo.com/5183751/giz-explains ... on-april-1

Freaky stuff

eurddrue · Post by **eurddrue** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 4:39 pm

Yup, only been to acid mods once, and that was the first article. worlds biggest rick roll though...hmmm....I wonder.... Don't worry. It's not a rickroll
No, they'll probably just do that fake virus protection and make you pay $50 then infect your system worse.

Post by **Triton** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 4:45 pm

sounds a lot like a botnet to me. the greatest of which is the STORM botnet

Post by **bicostp** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 4:55 pm

A few days ago, I was browsing and Adobe Acrobat popped up for no apparent reason. I killed the process as fast as I could, and did a scan with AVG (clean) and Ad-Aware (clean). The closest to an infection I've gotten was this one time when I was surfing some site for old commercials (it was for a project) , and one of those fake browser "compuyter scanner 2009" things popped up and started doing who-knows-what. I quickly unplugged my Ethernet connection, killed Firefox, and ran AVG and Ad-Aware, both came up clean. I don't think the Acrobat thing is a big deal, since I have macros turned off, and it's a really old version from something like 2000. (It's not Acrobat Reader.)

I think I'm pretty safe from it, even though I'm running SP1.

(It's a long story, but basically it won't let me install any newer service packs.) I've always got a firewall and router up, and don't go to the shadier sides of the web. (Plus I'm running AdBlock Plus, removing the threat from questionable ads. My laptop never goes on other peoples' networks anymore, either. I haven't seen any of the symptoms on any of my PCs so far.

Seems like the most vulnerable would be idiots who plug their computer straight into their DSL modem through USB (because that's "how you're supposed to do it", apparently), people who use their laptops on public networks, and college students using their computers on the campus network.

According to Wikipedia, the symptoms include:

# Account lockout policies being reset automatically.
# Certain Microsoft Windows services such as Automatic Updates, Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS), Windows Defender and Error Reporting Services are automatically disabled.
# Domain controllers respond slowly to client requests.
# System network gets unusually congested. This can be checked with network traffic chart on Windows Task Manager.
# On websites related to antivirus software, Windows system updates cannot be accessed.
# Launches a brute force dictionary attack against administrator passwords to help it spread through ADMIN$ shares, making choice of sensible passwords advisable.

The Wikipedia page also has links to dedicated removal tools for this issue. Download the one from Symantec and run it. Even if you don't know you have the infection, it's a good way to find out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conficker
http://www.symantec.com/security_respon ... 99&tabid=3

Post by **Skyone** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 4:55 pm

Sounds to me like ignorance crying out for help.

gamecube6 · Post by **gamecube6** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 4:59 pm

eurddrue wrote:Yup, only been to acid mods once, and that was the first article. worlds biggest rick roll though...hmmm....I wonder.... Don't worry. It's not a rickroll
No, they'll probably just do that fake virus protection and make you pay $50 then infect your system worse.

Nah, it seems like something bigger than that lame fake virus thing. Apparently all the infected computers are going to report to a specific server. I think the hacker's going to use them somehow.

The virus also spreads from your computer due to P2P capabilites, right, Bicostp?

Seriously though, it would suck if a /b/tard were behind this.

eurddrue · Post by **eurddrue** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 5:01 pm

@bic

are you that paranoid in life? It sounds like it

So far I've been using AVG free 8.5 and ad-aware and they have kept me clean. Does the unplug your ethernet cable actually do anything? or did you just freak out?
@gamecube6 It's probably a group of those 4chaners

gamecube6 · Post by **gamecube6** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 5:09 pm

I'm actually looking forward to April 1. Self-aware computer network here we come!

Post by **bicostp** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 5:17 pm

eurddrue wrote:@bic are you that paranoid in life? It sounds like it

No, not really. Did you miss the part where I said I'm running an unpatched copy of XP Service Pack 1a?

I haven't even upgraded to Firefox 3 yet! If I was really paranoid, I'd do all my surfing on my old Quadra 650 with Netscape 4 or iCab. All the System 7 viruses died out a decade ago.

Besides, quick thinking to cut it off before something potentially takes root is a lot easier than trying to clean it up after the fact.

nevermind1534 · Post by **nevermind1534** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 5:27 pm

I thought it was the older versions of acrobat that were supposed to be less secure and have more holes. I guess that is to a point, since newer versions also have more features.

XCVG · Post by **XCVG** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 5:36 pm

I've been infected with Malware Protector 2008 once. But I got rid of it.

gamecube6 · Post by **gamecube6** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 5:36 pm

bicostp wrote:Besides, quick thinking to cut it off before something potentially takes root is a lot easier than trying to clean it up after the fact.

To everyone who has never been infected with anything significant before: Live by this. My family's windows box got infected with a particularly nasty virus and it took me three days to get rid of the damn thing.

AfroLH · Post by **AfroLH** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 5:56 pm

bicostp wrote:
eurddrue wrote:@bic are you that paranoid in life? It sounds like it
No, not really. Did you miss the part where I said I'm running an unpatched copy of XP Service Pack 1a? I haven't even upgraded to Firefox 3 yet! If I was really paranoid, I'd do all my surfing on my old Quadra 650 with Netscape 4 or iCab. All the System 7 viruses died out a decade ago.

Besides, quick thinking to cut it off before something potentially takes root is a lot easier than trying to clean it up after the fact.

If you were REALLY PARANOID you would get a Mac or Linux

gamecube6 · Post by **gamecube6** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 5:57 pm

AfroLH wrote:
bicostp wrote:
eurddrue wrote:@bic are you that paranoid in life? It sounds like it
No, not really. Did you miss the part where I said I'm running an unpatched copy of XP Service Pack 1a? I haven't even upgraded to Firefox 3 yet! If I was really paranoid, I'd do all my surfing on my old Quadra 650 with Netscape 4 or iCab. All the System 7 viruses died out a decade ago.

Besides, quick thinking to cut it off before something potentially takes root is a lot easier than trying to clean it up after the fact.
If you were REALLY PARANOID you would get a Mac or Linux

That or just use linux to be secure and cheap (Like me!

)

HotDog-Cart · Post by **HotDog-Cart** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 6:11 pm

I smell bad april fools prank.

benheck.com Forums

Anyone hear about Conficker?

Anyone hear about Conficker?

Re: Anyone hear about Conficker?

Re: Anyone hear about Conficker?

Re: Anyone hear about Conficker?

Re: Anyone hear about Conficker?

Re: Anyone hear about Conficker?

Re: Anyone hear about Conficker?

Re: Anyone hear about Conficker?

Re: Anyone hear about Conficker?

Re: Anyone hear about Conficker?

Re: Anyone hear about Conficker?

Re: Anyone hear about Conficker?

Re: Anyone hear about Conficker?

Re: Anyone hear about Conficker?

Re: Anyone hear about Conficker?