TrendMicro: possibly the biggest virus we have ever seen

[Phred42]

possibly the biggest virus we have ever seen

Nasty worm wriggles into millions of computers
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Nasty_worm_wriggles_into_m...


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.

[kimmerspixelated]

1. These fuckers need to have their dick tied to a stump

then doused with gasoline, torched with fire and then handed a knife, to "save" themselves!

[FriendlyReminder]

8. That's a good start.....

[defendandprotect]

2. Is this the one that Microsoft was supposed to send a "patch" on . . .??

I never got a patch from Microsoft -- did anyone else????

[sentelle]

5. the patch

was sent last october. do your windows update. if there are no new updates available, then you are OK.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

9. well....the last time I dad an update, I had to and reinstall !!!

I can tell you this, I gonna stick with Linux. Window$ can kiss my @ss.

[defendandprotect]

10. Can you repeat that . . . just a little clearer . . . ? Hate Windows... what's Linux???

[dkofos]

3. Gee, let me guess, another attack on windoze.

The Penguin is my friend.

[pacalo]

4. Everyone needs to see this. K&R.

"Downadup uses brute force from the infected network of botnets to break the password of the machine being attacked," Perry said. "That is something never seen before and I find it disturbing."

Perry urges people to harden passwords by mixing in numbers, punctuation marks, and upper-case letters. Doing so makes it millions of times harder for passwords to be deduced, according to Perry.

"This is necessary in a world where malware hacks passwords," Perry said.

"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."

[L0oniX]

6. Wow ...good ol Brute Force password cracker. I used that long ago ...hacked a bunch of .edu

Back in the day we used Brute Force all the time along with port sniffers and scanners. I guess it's new for some of the new century hackers but it's old to me. Any good admin would see the attempt and block it. I think I still have that app somewhere.

[Wiley50]

7. Brute Force is an app?

I just assumed that it used a botnet of previously conquered machines like a supercomputer of sorts- kinda like Folding At Home to crack the password by trying all of the possible combinations.

But I'm not a computer geek by any means

Thanks

[L0oniX]

11. Yes Brute Force is an app but it's not something you can find unless you hang with others who hack.

I still have it and I got it from hacker friends on IRC back in the late 90's.