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Security Industry Scares Press, Press Scares Everybody
SecurityProNews
Staff Writer
2009-03-30
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Security companies are trying to downplay the hype surrounding the Conficker worm and what potentially might happen. While they release tools and "vaccines" for dealing with infection, the new general consensus is that nobody knows what the hubbub is all about.
 | | Security Industry Scares Press, Press Scares Everybody |  |
The truth is it's a sexy story. It's got all the suspense and potential for let-down that Y2K did. A nasty worm is set do something on April Fool's Day but nobody knows exactly what. It maybe something, it maybe nothing. Everybody shrugs and goes "ooh, I love a mystery."
Cue the sensationalist headlines, melting computers, networks worldwide facing calamity. More absurd than that might the security industry trying to put the breaks on the hype machine after feeding the hype machine the perfect narrative to begin with. Two weeks ago, my inbox was flooded with emails from companies warning of the impending April Fool's Day Conficker attack. One week ago it was flooded with solutions.
But hang on, irresponsible press! I like that. It makes me laugh.
Anyway, the gist of what they're saying now is that most home PCs are already relatively immune because Downadup/Conficker exploits a hole in Windows that has been patched already so long as users have their machines configured for automatic update. If you're still concerned, you can immunize you computer so it prevents automatic running of USB devices.
So that leaves unpatched networks. Here's the scoop on what they think is going to happen on Wednesday: the Conficker worm, which contacts 250 random websites daily for further instructions, will contact 500 instead. And that's it. That appears to be all they know. It contacts double the websites from which it may receive an upgrade, new instructions, or a suicide order.
In reality, if your network is up to date, there shouldn't be any problem. But just in case, several researchers are raving about the Honeynet Project's free tool for network scanning that can detect and detain Conficker.
About the Author:
SecurityProNews is a daily online and email publication focusing on internet security issues.
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