• Conficker back in the news – but the sky isn’t falling

    Posted on April 28, 2009 at 08:53 CDT by • Comment in the Forums

    I keep getting questions about Conficker and its supposed April 1 “doomsday” update. I’ve talked about that many times before. The simple fact is that April 1 came and went without incident. The press had a field day. The antivirus companies made a lot of money. I warned you – and about a zillion researchers warned you – that the April 1 date wouldn’t bring any devastating problems. It didn’t. Tell me if  you’ve heard that story before?

    The people who control Conficker are very smart, and they aren’t going to do anything to raise too many hackles or too many alarms. But they’re going to keep quietly using Conficker to make money.

    Bet on it.

    The press is now agaga (can I Google “agaga”?) over Conficker. Again. MSNBC – which, being a division of Microsoft, should know better – posted a sensationalistic piece about an hour ago. The Associated Press has a much more accurate (and refreshingly brief) take on the new developments. Except, uh, what the AP says isn’t new at all.

    The bottom line hasn’t changed one iota: if you or your Great Aunt Martha is running Windows XP, take a look at the Conficker Eye Chart. If you’re infected, you’ll see in a second. If you aren’t infected, read up on the known problems with patching, then get patched up and get on with your life. Do it now, before Microsoft releases another bunch of patches.

    One interesting side-note: AP now quotes a Cisco rep as saying “up to 12,000,000 personal computers” are infected with Conficker. Fecund little guy. But I’d take the number with two grains of salt.

    Windows Patches/Security
DON'T MISS OUT!
Subscribe to the Free Newsletter
We promise not to spam you. Unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address

View the Forum

  • Recent Replies
  • My Replies
  • My Active Topics
  • New Posts in the Last day
  • Private Messages
  • Knowledge Base
  • How to use the Forums
  • All Forums

    • Recent Topics

    My Profile

    May 2025
    S M T W T F S
     123
    45678910
    11121314151617
    18192021222324
    25262728293031

    Remembering Woody

     

    Want to Advertise in the free newsletter? How about a gift subscription in honor of a birthday? Send an email to sb@askwoody.com to ask how.

    Mastodon profile for DefConPatch
    Mastodon profile for AskWoody

     

    Home • About • FAQ • Posts & Privacy • Forums • My Account
    Register • Free Newsletter • Plus Membership • Gift Certificates • MS-DEFCON Alerts

    Copyright ©2004-2025 by AskWoody Tech LLC. All Rights Reserved.