PSA: Spreading the [bad] word

[unixronin]

Not all of you folks on my FL read databeast, or keep up with the tech press.  Which is why I’m quoting his most recent post in its entirety here:

Next week, at 8pm EST/00:00 GST, the Conficker worm will download its next code update.

I’ve spent the last 4 months spending damn near my every waking hour fighting this thing.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, just go google ‘Conficker’ now.  I’ll be happy to answer any questions.

In the meantime, go to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ and download every last update on there.

Tell your friends to do the same.

if you can’t reach that site, you are already infected. Take your machine offline and get it disinfected by a professional.

But remember this, right now If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

Conficker is shaping up to be the scariest, largest botnet ever to have existed.  If you use Windows as your operating system, and you don’t regularly update it, you are part of the problem, and your computer is likely now the property of some shadowy criminal syndicate based out of God-Knows-Where.

If you aren’t a Windows user, but you know people who are, tell them the above instructions.  We have less than 7 days until what could, in the worst case scenario, be the most destructive event ever witnessed on the internet, a vast, data-stealing network owned by an organized crime syndicate.  We aren’t talking science fiction here folks.

If every man would sweep his own doorstep the city would soon be clean.

Italian Proverb

He’s not kidding, folks.  Conficker (aka Downup, Downadup, or Kido) is serious bad news.  It’s the next level of Internet worm evolution; it’s Botnet 2.0, the most sophisticated worm yet seen.  During one of its major activity spikes, on January 15-16, Conficker infected 1.1 million PCs in less than 24 hours.  At that time, F-Secure estimated — conservatively — that 3.52 million systems were infected worldwide.  By January 21 the number was believed to be around 9 million.  Current estimates run as high as 12 million.

For the technically knowledgeable among you, SRI International has an analysis of the most recent Conficker-C variant here.  For the non-technical, McAfee has some less technical information about what it does here.  And PC World has an article here detailing how it attacks and some measures you can take to protect yourself if you’re not already infected.  (The article is slightly out of date; one recent Microsoft security patch disables AutoRun for you as a precaution.)

One point from databeast‘s post cannot be emphasized enough:

If you run Windows, with ANY browser, and you can read this post, but you cannot get to www.windowsupdate.com, or GRIsoft.com (home of AVG antivirus), or Trend Micro, or Sophos, McAfee or Kaspersky or any other antivirus site, assume you are already infected.  Take your computer offline and seek professional assistance to get it disinfected and patched.

On April 1, the Conficker botnet goes active.  And we don’t have any idea what its new instructions will tell it to do.  But it could be very, very bad.

---

UPDATE:

Since Conficker can’t block downloads of tools from sites that don’t match its internal list of strings, I’ve mirrored several of the free Conficker removal tools locally:

• Enigma Software’s Conficker removal tool
• BitDefender’s single-PC Conficker removal tool
• BitDefender’s Conficker removal tool for Microsoft networks
• F-Secure’s Conficker removal tool
• F-Secure standalone worm-detection scanner, less specific

So if you can’t get to windowsupdate or any of the antivirus sites, you can download removal tools here.

Comments

Advice Please

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

Should I boot my Windows partitions just to install the virus protections? It has been well over 120 days since I last booted Windows anywhere connected to the net. The kids have a WindowsME system that they use for games, but it is DOS based, I am assuming it is safe.

Do I specifically boot Windows just to scan it, or can I leave it until after April 1, and do the scan then?

(I only ever use Windows for some specific school programs (over), or to play a couple of games (seldom, and never on the net.))

Re: Advice Please

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Frankly, given that situation, I'd install clamav (if you don't already have it installed), make sure it's up-to-date, and scan the Windows partition(s) from Linux. Conficker first appeared in October, so by the sound of it you probably haven't even booted Windows since before it appeared. If Windows isn't running, it can't do anything anyway.

The other side of the coin is, when you DO boot Windows, you should make sure getting Windows patched is the very first thing you do.

Your assumption that the ME box is safe is probably correct. ME is a completely different architecture and kernel, and it doesn't have the exploited service at all. Then again, it's also widely considered the worst version of Windows ever...

Re: Advice Please

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

WindowsME runs the games the children use just fine. It has never given me any problems.

Updating Windows is an issue. On some of the machines, it is demanding to install Windows Genuine Advantage before any other updates will be applied. I refuse to run WGA. It seems to get very unhappy if it can't find the internet. Usually, if I am in Windows, the internet is disabled for that machine. The whole OS leads me to cuss. It is not so much the UI or the way it runs programs, it is the ongoing cost (in time more than $$) to keep it running safe and secure[?]