Conficker is a computer worm that allows remote control of a computer and has infected government computers in several countries. It is difficult to eliminate, and Microsoft offers a reward for information leading to the conviction of its creators. Symptoms include locked accounts and unavailable anti-virus websites.
Conficker is a computer worm that targeted the Microsoft® Windows® operating system. This worm was first detected in November 2008. It allows its creators to remotely control your computer. It is one of the fastest spreading worms in Internet history.
There have been several variants of the Conficker worm. The first variant was able to exploit a security vulnerability in Windows® 2000, Windows® XP, Windows® Vista, Windows® Server 2003, Windows® Server 2008 and a beta version of Windows® Server 2008 R2. Another variant allowed the worm to spread through computers’ local area network (LAN) connections via network shares.
The French Navy’s Intramar computer network has been infected by the Conficker worm. The French Navy quickly quarantined the affected systems. This downtime resulted in several aircraft being grounded, as their flight plans could not be downloaded. Other countries, including the UK and Germany, reported that some government computers had been found to be infected with the Conficker worm.
As of 2010, this worm has been extremely difficult to get rid of, even though almost all of the techniques employed by the worm have either been used in the past or are well understood by researchers. The combination of techniques employed by the worm led to its difficulty in being eliminated. It is also believed that the creators of this worm are monitoring the attempts made by security engineers and releasing new variants to close security vulnerabilities as soon as they become known.
Microsoft® is offering a $250,000 US Dollars (USD) reward for information leading to the conviction of any individual responsible for the creation, distribution and/or maintenance of the Conficker worm. Many security agencies take great pains to ensure that the creators of this worm are brought to justice and the damage caused by this worm is fixed.
Users who think their computer may be infected with the Conficker worm should pay attention to some of the symptoms. The user may find that accounts on the computer are locked out without the user’s consent. Anti-virus websites or the Windows® Update service may also become unavailable to users whose computer has been infected. Any user who believes their computer may be infected should first run their existing antivirus software. If this does not solve the problems, the user can have a computer technician work on the computer to determine if it is infected.
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