53 Pages, 10 Months, 1295 Infected Hosts, 103 Countries, And They Still Can't Say "Windows Malware"

We have excelent writers here on this forum, ex: Carla

Why don't you just copy//rewrite the article, and fill in the blanks, as. --I can't imagine this being Linux or BSD, so it has to be W.. --We have seen this before in W... --This is only possible if you login as administrator, which is the standard for W --etc etc

If I had any skills, I would.

Of course, Bill could pay you a visit after that :-)

They did on all the news reports over here. Windows and malware wiere connected on every news cast.

TA: Links please!

Mostly TV news, and commentary. I did find one article, I didn't look for others as I wanted to confirm that they were talking about conficker. I'll post as soon as I find it again.

Meh. They're still soft-peddling it. "The car defect, which causes it to violently swerve at random, unpredictable intervals, afflicts millions of vehicle owners. Ford has issued a fix, and car owners are warned to apply it immediately."

Weiners.

TC those were the only print articles I could find, but I kept getting IMs from my partner on Monday telling me that the news reports were that it was a virus that affects Windows, and that Windows users were advised to not turn their computers on, on April 1st.. (great solution)

Yeah, like Conficker *only* works on April 1st. It *starts* on April 1st and keeps on going forever.

here's one.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7976099.stm

Quoting:Conficker, also known as Downadup or Kido, first appeared last November. The worm is self-replicating and has attacked a vulnerability in machines using Microsoft's Windows operating system, the software that runs most computers.

It can infect machines via a net connection or by hiding on USB memory drives used to ferry data from one computer to another. Once in a computer, it digs deeps, setting up defences making it hard to extract.

Microsoft put up $250,000 to catch those behind Conficker

Among those affected by the virus have been the House of Commons and the defence forces of the UK, Germany and France.

The reason for the hype and the concern around Conficker is that 1 April was the day the worm was set to change the way it updates itself, moving to a system that is much harder to combat.

Sorry to digress, but, life without walls is life without windows

At the height of Nimda/Code-Red, several co-workers were clustered around my desk, where I had a real-time stream of the log from my web server running BOA, we were all pointing and giggling as the infected requests scrolled past by the thousands and thousands.

That's pretty much how I feel right now. Silly Windows...

Our local Fox affiliate had this story on last night. It mentions Mac and Linux as being not impacted. But the "Computer Expert" gives only the usual ineffective Windows band-aid advice of turning on updates and update your AV, plus the universal good idea of backing up files.

http://www.kdvr.com/news/kwgn-conficker-worm-033109,0,424480...

Backing up which files, the infected ones? How can you trust anything on a compromised windoze pc?

> Backing up which files, the infected ones?

I gave that advice to someone yesterday, who said he'd back up his important files to a USB disk. He hadn't heard of Conficker. When I got home I got to thinking that backing things up might actually make things worse - if you're infected, you've just given yourself the ability to infect all of your computers in the future.

This article from Computerworld was the best on the cure for Conflicker I've seen:

http://blogs.computerworld.com/100_cure_for_conficker&source...

The CNN coverage today was abysmal. They assumed PC means Windows. The only time Windows was even mentioned was as a solution: run Windows upgrade and update your Windows anti-virus software. The only real solution or cure is the one Steven Vaughn-Nichols now recommends: dump Windows.