I believe Conficker is one of the most interesting forms of self-updating worm that affected millions of computers including government, businesses, and home computers all over the world which exposed serious vulnerabilities in the world’s digital infrastructure. Mainly, Conficker is an Internet worm that infected millions of computers since it first appeared in November 2008 as one of the largest currently active botnets in the cyberspace. In the past decade, Conficker botnet is ranked as one of the largest and most serious cyber security threats due to the potentially significant damage this worm could do to individual internet users, corporations, governments or critical internet infrastructure. It is a type of computer malware that targets a flaw within the Microsoft Windows operating system. Once it infects a computer, it can link the infected computer to a remote computer controlled by the malware author and then download additional instructions to the infected computer. Conficker uses a number of methods to self-propagate and evade defensive efforts to counter the malware or remediate the computer. The original version released is known as Conficker A, since then, there have been four more versions which are labeled by Microsoft as Variations B, C, D, and E. In February 2, 2010 BBC News Channel reported Manchester Police computers were cut off from national criminal database for more than three days due to Conficker, a malicious worm.

According to the Conficker Working group report quote “The exact size of Conficker has been debated since the worm appeared. At its peak, Tom Gaffney of F-Secure estimated that 15 million machines were infected. Others found that number to be too high, but nearly everyone today places the number above five million”. Below is a map showing the affected areas in the world.

http://www.confickerworkinggroup.org/wiki/uploads/ANY/conficker_world_map.png

There is one new security threat that individuals cannot do much to prevent, Advanced Persistent Threats (APT). APTs target a specific company, facility, or government agency with different types of attacks on the organization's internal network. It has been a problem for organizations in detecting such persistent attacks.

In my opinion, computer security should every user’s business. Organizations need to understand that malware in all various forms is with us to stay and keeps getting more sophisticated and multifarious. On the contrary, the tools and methods of detecting, preventing and protecting malware are advancing. Even though, one cannot stop all malware attacks to a network, deploying defense in depth practices and methods such as antivirus protection, gateway protection of network, and educating users could minimize the risks.

Works Cited

Markoff John, (August 26, 2009) Defying Experts, Rogue Computer Code Still Lurks. Retrieved on January 22, 2013 from: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/technology/27compute.html

The Rendon Group (2011, January) Conficker Working Group: Lessons Learned June 2010. Retrieved on January 22, 2013 from: http://www.confickerworkinggroup.org/wiki/uploads/Conficker_Working_Group_Lessons_Learned_17_June_2010_final.pdf

BBC NEWS (2010, February 2) Police computers struck by virus. Retrieved on January 24, 2013 from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/8492669.stmdinand