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Microsoft to patch 'critical' PowerPoint hole
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| Microsoft plans to patch a hole in its PowerPoint presentation program, the
| company said in an advanced bulletin that was notable because it contained
| only a single update.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/07/microsoft_patch_tuesday_notice/
Has Microsoft gone mental?
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| Here is what Mental Microsoft has to say on the matter: “The RC will expire
| on June 1, 2010. Starting on March 1, 2010, your PC will begin shutting down
| every two hours. Windows will notify you two weeks before the bi-hourly
| shutdowns start. To avoid interruption, you’ll need to install a non-expired
| version of Windows before March 1, 2010. You’ll also need to install the
| programs and data that you want to use.”
`----
http://www.itpro.co.uk/blogs/daveyw/2009/05/07/has-microsoft-gone-mental/
Recent:
Conficker virus begins to attack PCs: experts
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| A malicious software program known as Conficker that many feared would wreak
| havoc on April 1 is slowly being activated, weeks after being dismissed as a
| false alarm, security experts said.
|
| Conficker, also known as Downadup or Kido, is quietly turning thousands of
| personal computers into servers of e-mail spam and installing spyware, they
| said.
`----
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE53N5I820090424
The Microsoft Tax: Conficker’s estimated economic cost: $9.1 billion
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| "The Cyber Secure Institute claims that based on their previous studies into
| the average cost of such malware attacks, the economic loss due to the
| Conficker worm could be as high as $9.1 billion," Dancho Danchev reports for
| ZDNet.
`----
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/20912/
Is the Conficker worm showing its hand?
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| People have been speculating, waiting and prognosticating, but until now the
| extremely cleverly programmed Conficker worm has limited itself to mainly
| defensive measures, such as opening various communications channels
| (Conficker.C can set up peer-to-peer networks with other infected systems) in
| order to transform itself with downloaded code, and to actively combating
| anti-virus software and security analysis tools. Even on 1 April, the known
| date on which Conficker.C would be looking for updates, virtually nothing
| happened. Now however, money is involved: computers infected with the
| Conficker worm are downloading the scareware program "SpywareProtect2009".
`----
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/136192
Warning: Conficker worm finally wakes up
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| Could the speculation surrounding the Conficker payload be coming to an end
| as the latest variant of the virulent worm reveals its hand in the form of
| links to the Waledac malware family and talk of rogue antivirus
| installations?
`----
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/24363/1231/
Conficker, the Internet's No. 1 Threat, Gets an Update
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/162848/conficker_the_internets_no_1_threat_gets_an_update.html
Conficker worm sends new instructions: grow botnet, then die
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/04/09/conficker-active.html
Conficker Reportedly Updates Itself
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,513596,00.html
Conficker Worm Awakens, Downloads Rogue Anti-virus Software
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2009/04/conficker_worm_awakens_downloa.html?wprss=securityfix
Conficker Shows Its Colors, Installs Rogue Antivirus
http://www.pcworld.com/article/162936/conficker_shows_its_colors_installs_rogue_antivirus.html
Conficker: Millions Hit, 300,000 Domains Blocked
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| Shipley told InternetNews.com that the Conficker.C worm has infected about 10
| million Windows-based computers in 150 countries, with China's level of
| infection estimated at 3 million, Brazil at 1 million and Russia at 800,000.
| In the United States, researchers suspect about 200,000 computers have been
| infected.
`----
http://www.internetnews.com/security/article.php/3813026/Conficker+Over+300000+Domains+Blocked+Millions+Inf.htm
UltraDNS back online after DDoS assault
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| A distributed denial of service attack knocked NeuStar's UltraDNS managed DNS
| service offline for several hours on Tuesday.
|
| NeuStar runs high-availability DNS services for customers such as online
| retailers and IT giants, including Oracle and Juniper. In a statement,
| NeuStar told Networkworld that the attack affected only a small (unspecified)
| subset of its customers.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/01/ultradns_ddos/
Three-fold global increase in infected websites
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| There was a three-fold increase in the number of malicious websites around
| the world infected with malware in March, with almost 3,000 potentially
| harmful sites intercepted every day of the month.
`----
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/24200/1231/
Got pwned by Conficker.B - Fought back & won
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| Our WinXP lappy (used for business & personal) was infected by
| Conficker.B, rendering it a zombie-bot tethered to a botnet somewhere.
| In the end, the OS is replaced with Linux & the data are preserved.
| Complete functionality is restored... All while on the road.
|
| [...]
|
| After about a day and a half, I gave up trying to save the system and
| decided to try to /replace/ it. I began by using my Nokia N810
| (linux-based internet tablet[3]) to download onto its flash card:
|
| - unetbootin[4] and
| - the iso for gOS 3.1[5].
|
| I put the card into a usb reader and plugged it back into the infected
| lappy. Then, I:
|
| - loaded and ran unetbootin & gOS iso,
| - manually created some partitions via the gOS install,
| - installed gOS (applied patches, etc)
| - moved data from NTFS to ext3 partition
| - removed NTFS partition.
|
| At that point, we had a (trusted) computer with networking, productivity
| apps and our data again. The process (excluding download time) took
| about four hours.
`----
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.comp.freeware/msg/5d33c17417942d28
Conficker update calls home more stealthily
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| A new version of the Conficker (aka Downadup) worm is working around attempts
| to stifle its activity by dramatically increasing the number of domain names
| used to call home for fresh instructions.
`----
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/23813/1054/
Conficker gets upgraded with defenses
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| Researchers at Symantec have discovered what could be a significant
| development in the ongoing Conficker worm saga: a new module that is being
| pushed out to some infected systems.
|
| In a couple of ways, the new component is designed to harden infected
| machines against an industry consortium that is actively trying to contain
| the prolific worm. For one, the update targets antivirus software and
| security analysis tools to prevent them from removing the malware. Not only
| does it try to disable anti-malware titles, it also goes after programs such
| as Wireshark and regmon.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/07/conficker_upgrade/
Conficker Worm Strikes Back With New Variant
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| The Conficker/Downadup worm managed to slither onto millions of PCs worldwide
| at its height, but after it initially infected a computer it only really
| acted to spread itself, and didn't cause further harm. Until now.
|
| Symantec reports today that it has found a new variant of the virulent worm
| that will identify antivirus software or security analysis tools running on
| the infected PC, and attempt to shut down those programs. This is a strong
| signal that the worm's mysterious creators haven't abandoned their creation
| in the face of worldwide attention, as some in the industry have theorized,
| but may still have plans to make a buck off their work.
`----
http://www.pcworld.com/article/160854/confickervariant.html?tk=rss_news
Conficker may bring commercial web sites to their knees
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| One of the most notorious pieces of recent malware is set to cause collateral
| damage to commercial web sites.
|
| [...]
|
| In practice, security researchers are able to analyse this function as easily
| as any other. And a coalition of ISPs and other players has been registering
| the domains Conficker will try to use before the worm's backers can get hold
| of them.
`----
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/23538/1054/
Virus strikes 15 million PCs
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| A virulent computer virus has infected as many as 15 million computers around
| the world so far, according to various estimates.
|
| The virus -- a self-replicating computer worm known as Downadup, Conficker or
| Kido -- spreads across computer networks using Microsoft Windows software
| which have not been patched or updated properly. Microsoft issued a patch
| that fixes the vulnerability the virus exploits last October.
`----
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/01/26/Virus_strikes_15_million_PCs/UPI-19421232924206/
Windows worm: Security experts waiting for activation of 'botnet'
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| Computer experts are preparing to respond to further virus outbreaks and
| security threats posed by the Windows worm, known as Conficker, Kido and
| Downadup, which has infected more than 15 million PCs worldwide.
`----
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/microsoft/4345295/Windows-worm-Security-experts-waiting-for-activation-of-botnet.html
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