Conficker, Real Threat or Joke?

The Conficker worm has been getting lots of press lately, otherwise known as ‘Downadup’.  It has been one of the largest most publicized infections since the Melissa virus.  Security experts can’t seem to agree on the motive for the malware and what it is capable of.  There is one thing they can agree on, something will happen on April 1st, 2009.  Security expert engineers who have been examining the worm think the worm will connect to hosts looking for an updated variant that will bury itself even deeper into infected machines.  

Up to this point, Conficker has been focusing on multiplying and spreading while blocking access to anti-virus and spyware applications that could repair the infection.  

On April 1st, your not going to see any fireworks online.  Government websites won’t crash and your computer will not choke up a BSOD on you.  Why?

•  Hackers who create this kind of malware don’t want you to know your infected.  They want to idle in the background and use your system and its resources without you knowing for their own gain like forwarding spam, Ddos attacks and other malicious activity
• Though they have been getting great press, they don’t want it and won’t let it ‘all hang out’ on April Fools day

Tools For Removal  

• McAfee Stinger
• ESet EConfickerRemover
• Symantec W32.Downadup Removal Tool
• F-Secure F-Downadup, FSMRT, more tools
• BitDefender single PC and network removal tools
• Kaspersky KKiller
• Trend Micro