After 1 Year, Conficker Infects 7M Computers 95
alphadogg writes "The Conficker worm has passed a dubious milestone. It has now infected more than 7 million computers, security experts estimate. On Thursday, researchers at the volunteer-run Shadowserver Foundation logged computers from more than 7 million unique IP addresses, all infected by the known variants of Conficker. They have been able to keep track of Conficker infections by cracking the algorithm the worm uses to look for instructions on the Internet and placing their own 'sinkhole' servers on the Internet domains it is programmed to visit. Conficker has several ways of receiving instructions, so the bad guys have still been able to control PCs, but the sinkhole servers give researchers a good idea how many machines are infected."
Cleaning job (Score:2, Interesting)
Maybe they can inject instructions to the worm so it shutsdown but not before it spreads the "fix" to other computers? So along counting the number of PC's infected they also help in cleaning the worm. Impossible?
Re:I'm safe! (Score:1, Interesting)
This is Slashdot, not Yahoo Answers. I doubt anyone who frequents this site would read that and think "Oh my! I'll get to downloading AV2009 right away!" (and single posts don't come up on Google queries unless they're oddly specific.)
Don't fool yourself. A few years ago saying "This is Slashdot" would have meant something but today it really doesn't. For as much as people around here pissed on Digg the fact is that the Digg mentality is alive and well at Slashdot. This is not the technogeek site that most people make it out to be. Heavy tech sites kick the shit out of Slashdot and Slashdot is becoming more like the gossip section of a local newspaper.
So, no. I don't trust users here to be that smart. The fact that posts about how some people around here can't install the latest Windows and keep it virus free on the net for more than 24 hours speaks less and less about the flaws in Windows but more and more about how lame users are around here.
Maybe it's just the passage of time. I don't know. When I was a kid if you owned a computer you knew something about the machine. Even the people who I thought were idiots back then were more advanced than a lot of people who post on Slashdot. It seems like every 12 year old who's ever seen The Matrix thinks he's 1337 and gets modded up for bashing Windows. This only reinforces his delusion that he's a geek. Sad but true.
I think there is one way (Score:3, Interesting)
Figure out how to trace a significant percentage of those IPs to their IP blocks to their ISPs. Notify the ISPs. Start a coalition among them to shut off infected customers with a message explaining why and how to fix. Start an advertising campaign to get public support for this and help pressure ISPs to join even though it is not in their short-term self-interest; sell it to them as good PR at this point. Ask them to send a coupon to customers who disinfect, with prorated hours to reimburse the customer for time spent disconnected due to the infection; 90% will never collect on it anyway. Again, pitch this as good PR. Ask them to do this again for the next major infection, again for good PR. (As far as I'm concerned, big companies can crow to the rafters about all their good deeds, as long as they actually do them.)
It's pretty hard to kill this off with tech, but policy might work.
So disappointing (Score:5, Interesting)
I know I'm a terrible person for thinking this, but I was really curious about the chaos that was to ensue once Conficker's creators brought the hammer down.
*sigh*
Alright, so hell is that way, right? --->
Re:Cleaning job (Score:3, Interesting)
I would cite the various "good samaritan" laws, as well as implied consent. The braindead gave implied consent to have viral infections cleaned from their computers by having an infection to start with.
FFS - everyone worries about being sued, so they do nothing. You bet your arse, if I were smart enough to program the virus to self destruct, I would do so in an instant. No thoughts about being sued, period.
Re:So disappointing (Score:3, Interesting)
I was really curious about the chaos that was to ensue once Conficker's creators brought the hammer down.
The most effective pathogens are the ones that keep their host alive as long as possible, because then they have best chances of re-infecting the healthy. BotNets are no different. If you "bring the hammer down," you lose everything.
This is the reason why influenza is a far more dangerous killer than, say, Ebola.