The Conficker Virus - Please Read

[thecornflake]

I'm not sure how many of you know about this, but it's pretty big news at the moment and unfortunately a lot of the news is wrong (such as 'Oh well nothing happened and everything's ok' type of thing).

The virus is very alive and busy, it's just that the change that happened today is a behind-the-scenes thing and not something normal users would notice. It's NOT an April Fool.

I'm spending as much time helping people find and remove it as I am removing dodgy software downloaded by people being directed to fake sites when they search for removal tools.

The best FAQ I have found which saves me explaining it all for the millionth time is here -

Questions and Answers: Conficker and April 1st - F-Secure Weblog : News from the Lab

By the way, if you can't access that site you've probably got the virus - it blocks certain sites. Try removing the hyphen to access the alternative version.

If you can't be bothered to read up on it just go to McAfee Threat Center and download and run the tool (or find the one in the link above).

[Emma]

Why is the address you linked to for McAfee http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/ ?

[thecornflake]

Originally Posted by Emma

Why is the address you linked to for McAfee McAfee Threat Center ?

Nai.com is an alternative address for Mcafee's site, I'm not sure what it stands for. I think the NAI group bought Mcafee or something.

Vil stands for Virus something something. EDIT: Virus Information Library

If you go directly to Mcafee's site and search for it then you should find it.

I appreciate this all sounds a bit dodgy so if you're not happy using Stinger then there are other removal tools listed at the Conficker Work Group's site -

www.confickerworkinggroup.org

I linked to Stinger because it's my preferred option for quickly finding and removing recent viruses.

[Emma]

Ah ok thanks for clearing that up.

[thecornflake]

Originally Posted by Emma

Ah ok thanks for clearing that up.

No problem. It's best to be suspicious - like I said, there's loads of fake sites at the moment using Black Hat SEO to be high ranked when people search for Conficker removal tools. There is a list here to give you an idea of how many there are -

http://www.confickerworkinggroup.org...MaliciousSites

[Daniel :: EZPZ Hosting]

This is a pretty good test too - Conficker Eye Chart

[SteveH]

Do the RIGHT thing.... buy a Mac and never worry about this and have to waste time trying to fix such issues. I did just over a year ago and have saved large amounts of my daily 'time' as I no longer have to run macafee or norton or other virus software programs and no longer have the conflict of the software screwing up the operating system (Norton 2009 is now suppossed to actually work WITH windows rather than screw it up!).

So treat yourself to an iMac and sit back while the PC users pull out their hair because of the constant virus threats.

[smartbookings]

Good time for everyone to check they have up to date anti-virus and windows updates (if pc)...

[russellhenley]

'Macs don't get viruses' - famous last words.

I really get fed up with people who think 'I've got a Mac - they don't get viruses so I don't need antivirus software!'

Points to consider:

1) PC's outnumber Macs by a big margin - that's why people write viruses for PC's - it's called low hanging fruit. If that balance shifts, so will the virus writers. No operating system is completely immume (unless it's switched off!).
2) Mac users without AV can send downlevel viruses to their customers without realising it (would you like to forward a virus to your customer?)
3) Mac's DO have viruses, they DO have security vulnerabilities and they DO crash. Despite what Mac users say.

Protecting yourself against viruses is very simply - either employ someone who knows what they are doing, or contract with someone who knows what they are doing. Don't rely on advice, internet research or some 12 year old school kid.

It's a simple point - you don't ask Law students for legal advice, you don't file your accounts yourselves so why do you think you can do your own IT? If your solicitor or accountant gets it wrong (which isn't likely), you sue them. Same with your IT.

Professionally I have taken over IT support for countless companies who have 'done it themselves' and found virus-riddled networks that weren't backed up properly, and would have been out of business should anything happen! Why take the risk?

I even offer free IT audits for anyone concerned - just give me a call (follow the link to my ecademy profile if you want to know more).




Russell.

[Gerry Brannigan]

Hi Russell,

A very good addition to this thread. I totally agree with you. I have a customer who still uses the old RiscOS system. He tells me they cannot get viruses which is frustrating to hear. albeit it may never get a virus but as you rightly say, that isnt because it's such a great OS, it's because there is not enough users to justify someone wasting their time writing a virus for an outdated OS.