ICSA Labs on Conficker worm

There’s a lot of Conficker hype out there saying this worm is going to take over the world on April Fools Day. ICSA Labs, wants to set the record straight.

Andy Hayter, Anti-Malcode Program Manager for ICSA Labs, has put together tips about Conficker (aka Downadup or Kido):

• First the advice – get all the latest security updates from Microsoft for your operating system. This is important to do, not just for this incident but as a regular part of your computing experience.
• Install and/or update all your security products to their latest levels and make sure it is working properly. This could include anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, etc.
• The Conficker is not going to take over the world on April 1st. The most recent variant is designed to do something on April 1, which most likely will be to contact one of the 50,000 or so URL’s it creates. This is the outcome of the best research in the world on this worm. No one knows for sure what it will actually do, if anything.
• This worm is no more dangerous than any other malware in-the-wild. The Conficker stands out because if tries to use USB devices as a medium for infection.
• Don’t Panic! If you have updated your operating system and security software you should be safe.

A Conficker removal tool is available for download here.