Conficker attacked more than 700 computers at the University of Utah, including computers at three of the schools hospitals. The Conficker worm has been attacking the Web with malware and attempting to lure users into downloading fake anti-virus software. Meanwhile, a Twitter worm is also wrecking havoc online.The dreaded Conficker worm made an appearance at the University
of Utah heading into the weekend,
attaching more than 700 computers and spreading its malware to the universitys
three hospitals.
A spokesperson for the university insisted that patient records remain
unaffected. According to a report by the Associated Press, campus IT cut off
online access for up to 6 hours on April 10, in a bid to isolate Conficker
before it could cause further damage.
Conficker was first detected on campus on Thursday, April 9. In addition to
infecting hospital computers, Conficker also infiltrated systems in the medical
school and the colleges of nursing, pharmacy and health.
Administrators had informed staff and students on the best practices for
scrubbing Conficker from computers and auxiliary devices such as smartphones.
The
updated version of the Conficker worm continues to wreak havoc worldwide,
both by downloading malware connected to the Waledac botnet and attempting to
lure users into downloading fake anti-virus software.
On April 9, eWEEK reported that Conficker had been observed downloading a
file detected by Kaspersky
Lab as FraudTool.Win32.SpywareProtect2009.s. Upon running the file, the
user is asked to pay $49.95 to remove the "detected threat."
The Waledac malware, once downloaded by Conficker, steals passwords and
converts users systems into spamming bots.
Although expected to launch its attacks on April 1, Conficker
decided to wait roughly a week before spreading its payload via
peer-to-peer between infected computers.
Also in malware news, Twitter was infected by a worm over the weekend that
caused user accounts to generate a spam message reading "Mikeyy."
According to reports, the worm was created by 17-year-old Mike Mooney "out
of boredom."
The worm began its rounds at 2 a.m.
on April 11 from four accounts, before expanding to 100 accounts and sending
nearly 10,000 spam "tweets" by the afternoon of April 12. The
infected accounts had been secured, according to the company.
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone suggested there will be repercussions against
the worms creator, citing a MySpace precedent.
"The worm introduced to Twitter this weekend was similar to the famous
Samy worm which spread across the popular MySpace social-networking site a
while back," Stone wrote in an April 12 corporate blog post. "At that
time, MySpace filed a lawsuit against the virus creator, which resulted in a
felony charge and sentencing. Twitter takes security very seriously, and we
will be following up on all fronts."
Stone also emphasized that "no passwords, phone numbers or other sensitive
information was compromised as part of these attacks."
| | Reader Comments: Conficker Attacks 700 University of Utah PCs | | >>> Post your comment now!
| | A user comment on this articleThe fact that 700 computers were infected, to me, seems quite reasonable when compared to the size of the student population at UofU (est. ~35,000).... Posted At: 04-24-09 By: George | | | | | | A user comment on this articlePerhaps the "first degree murder charge" you mention should be more properly leveled at the sysadmin who couldn't be bothered to keep Windows... Posted At: 04-15-09 By: Toby | | | | | | A user comment on this articleIt seems to me that the infected computers were most likely unmanaged computers. I would assume the Network Engineers cut of internet access in... Posted At: 04-15-09 By: Nick | | | | | | understating the problemNo, Shomeir, it is not a matter of migrating 700 users to Linux (or any other operating system). The University deploys thousands of computers and... Posted At: 04-14-09 By: Stratocaster | | | | | | Michael.Mundorff@iMail.orgAs someone with first-hand knowledge of the situation (I am not a University employee, but work with many who are), I agree that termination is not... Posted At: 04-14-09 By: Stratocaster | | | | | | A user comment on this articleA university's IT department and the machines that hang off of their network are two entirely different entities.
Consider a coffee shop chain... Posted At: 04-14-09 By: Anonymous | | | | | | A user comment on this articleBefore we start "firing" folks we need to know what the situation is. I do not think if you made a blunder you would like someone to fire you. Posted At: 04-14-09 By: Anonymous | | | | | | >>> Post your comment now! | | | | | |
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