HUGE worm attacking MILLIONS of PCs

[Yes We Did]

A nasty worm has wriggled into millions of computers and continues to spread, leaving security experts wondering whether the attack is a harbinger of evil deeds to come.

US software protection firm F-Secure says a computer worm known as "Conficker" or "Downadup" had infected more than nine million computers by Tuesday and was spreading at a rate of one million machines daily.

The malicious software had yet to do any noticeable damage, prompting debate as to whether it is impotent, waiting to detonate, or a test run by cybercriminals intent on profiting from the weakness in the future.

"This is enormous; possibly the biggest virus we have ever seen," said software security specialist David Perry of Trend Micro.

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Nasty_worm_wriggles_into_m...

I wonder if this is what keeps trying to attack my computer when I connect to my DSL...

[BurtWorm]

1. Am not

[mmonk]

7. So its not a Burt. You're scratched from the list.

[elocs]

2. I'm glad I don't have a pc. I am frequently glad about that. n/t

[alittlelark]

3. I LOVE my Mac!

[BlooInBloo]

16. I love my Commodore64!

Moral: There's little point in writing viruses that are only used by but a few.

[Javaman]

21. aw man, commodore 64! I wax nostalgic!!!

I would play Elite till my eyes bled. LOL

[BlooInBloo]

25. Best. Game. Ever. the whole reason I now play EVE.

[Javaman]

29. yes, indeed. way ahead of it's time. I have thinking about eve but I don't know enough about it.

are you able to land on planets and trade in commodities?

[BlooInBloo]

30. You don't "land on planets", but yah. You dock at space stations in solar systems...

and go system to system.

But in all essentials, EVE is what Elite wanted to be, but was far too constrained by technical limitations to even imagine being.

I believe they have a 2 week free trial - give it a shot!

[Javaman]

35. Thanks, I think I wll! :) nt

[shanti]

28. me too!

my 4 year old USED ibook runs better than the two generic laptops i bought a couple years ago (that are now dead as a doorknob). i love it.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. Just how big is this worm anyhoo????

[Yes We Did]

5. Already infected several million...

[underpants]

6. Hmmm lots of data lost.... since yesterday.... hmm

[Staph]

8. Between the Huge Worm and ...

the drug Spice (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph... ), I'm having flashes of Dune!

[Donnachaidh]

11. "Wait for my brother, mua dib". n/t

[Lucinda]

12. LOL

Me too!

[Javaman]

9. ...

I feel another Mac vs PC flame war!!!

[hobbit709]

10. One day some hacker is going to write a virus for Macs,

then we'll see how "secure" a Mac really is.

[Belial]

14. They already have.. but if you are going to write a bot trojan..

why waste hitting the smallest market share?

[hobbit709]

19. If I was that kind of devious I would

Just because no one would suspect to look there.

[Renew Deal]

13. There is some really bad advice in that article!

"Go get a notebook, keep it next to your computer and record your password in it. No hacker in the world can hack the written page locked away in your office."

That is terrible advice. The worm can't get to the password, but coworkers, the cleaning crew, and others can easily get to the notebook. Passwords shouldn't be written down like that.

[SoCalDem]

26. and there is a "convenient" ad for free scan for a "for sale" product

Knocks wood... I have adaware & AVG and run updates daily ..and have never had a virus..

Are there really that many people who do not avail themselves of the free stuff out there??

[sentelle]

15. of course

if these same users had done the patches from MS over the last 3-4 months, they wouldnt HAVE the worm...

and before the mac users get on their high horse, I know about the mac patches too.

[mmonk]

17. sharing the Mac experience. Crash different.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vci_9yaOZe4

[juajen]

24. sentelle, they name is supercilious. NT

[shintao]

18. Where is the Gov. when we need them??

It seems to me the gov. could introduce a worm that would go out and destroy all the viruses and trojans. This gov. trojan would stay activated in the system and monitored by a gov. guru division.

So what is it? This might put someone out of business? This seems to be a National Security Issue to me. And it seems to me Hacker crimes are not stiff enough, maybe life in prison without a pc to play with is the answer??

This is all Al Gores "invented the Internet" fault!!

[slackmaster]

20. You're right, Government has failed

[Fearless]

22. This is old and it has already been patched...

IN OCTOBER!

[DainBramaged]

31. Slow news day on DU......

I found a boatload of stuff to post that is fresh as peanuts.......

[HeeBGBz]

23. I might have gotten that

My computer was taken out yesterday after I ran a virus check. The only way I got it back was going into safe mode and then system restore. I worked all day yesterday trying to figure out what was happening.

[Orrex]

27. I recommend that you jump up and down on the sand, rhythmically

The Spice!

[varkam]

32. The Spice Must Flow!

[Orrex]

33. You must remember the tooth

The tooth.

The tooth.

[Generic Brad]

34. A huge worm?

Is it like "Dune" in computers?