THE WICKED WORM THAT WASN'T
by Steven Musil
Millions of Windows users braced themselves for the much-feared Conficker worm, worried that the exploit would wreak havoc on their systems on April 1.
Conficker was expected to shut down security services, block computers from connecting to security Web sites, and download a Trojan. It was also expected to reach out to other infected computers via peer-to-peer networking and include a list of 50,000 different domains, of which 500 would be contacted by the infected computer on April 1 to receive updated copies or other malware or instructions.
Then nothing happened. Was it all an elaborate April Fools' joke?
The Conficker worm may have failed to cause the digital pandemonium that some may have feared, but that doesn't mean we are in the clear. Just because the worm failed to create much of a stir on the day it was set to activate doesn't mean it won't wake up and act later.
Today, as on any day, PC users should make sure their systems are patched and running the latest security software. People should patch their systems to close the hole in Windows that Conficker exploits and should update their antivirus software. The major antivirus vendors all have free Conficker removal tools.
The worm also can spread via network shares and removable storage devices like USB thumb drives. So people are advised to use strong passwords when sharing files on a network and to download a patch Microsoft released to address the Autorun feature problem in Windows that makes using removable storage risky.
So, in the end, was the hype a good thing or a bad thing?
Reflection:
The Conficker worm. if it did really work, might have cause havoc in the cyber world.
it might damage many computer, a lot or maybe even millions of computers worldwide.
it spreads quickly through many possibilities, through USB flash disks, hard drives and
most commonly on the internet. it might cause files to be corrupted or systems to
shutdown or maybe even render computers useless.
it caused the people who uses windows to be in panic
and what it might do to their computers.
The Conficker worm was possibly an April fool's joke, but we never know.
maybe it's an inactive worm that activates only on special cases or if there are
certain applications or files that a computer downloads.
but even if nothing happened, even if the worm did not take its toll, even if the worm
did not do it's magic. it might be also a good thing, always in every cases there is
a positive side in the story. it made the computer users alert and aware all the time.
it left us a lesson, to be always aware of viruses, worms and Trojans.
to be updated always and to always know the latest news about the Cyberworld.
it taught us not to be so negligent of these things.
so in the end?.. maybe the hype was a good thing after all...
