Well this past Tuesday, Microsoft pushed out 8 security patches that corrected at least 23 security vulnerabilities in Access, Word, Internet Explorer just to name a few. With all the talk in the national media about the April 1, Conficker Worm, this should make people check and verify that your updates have worked.
It is very important that patches happen, and the Conficker Worm should be your example. Microsoft came out late in October of 2008 with a patch (MS08-067). Many folks didn't update with this patch. Actually, millions of PC's didn't have the patch. So this allowed the criminal element behind Conficker to spread itself so fast and so successful.
So this is your reminder that patching is extremely important. Make sure your PC is set to download your Microsoft updates automatically. You can either select to install them automatically or notify you when updates are needing to be applied.
Another weekend is drawing to an end so lets get ready for the new week. Stay safe and be careful out there.
Showing posts with label Conficker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Conficker. Show all posts
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
A Conficker Update
I wrote on March 31 about my thoughts on what would happen on April 1 when the Conficker Worm was supposed to come to life and melt the Internet as we know it. All the major media outlets running stories on this major outbreak of malware on the Internet...like it just started. I say to this, welcome major media outlets. The Internet has been infected for a long time. Taking steps to protect yourself should be done in order to not have personal information about you stolen by cyber criminals.
Why all the hype? Probably the main responsibility for spreading the hype was all the security vendors such as AV vendors, and other companies dealing in computer security. Nothing really happened April 1. Now on Thursday of this past week, the Conficker Worm started to push payloads to the infected hosts out there on the Internet. Things that were seen included keyloggers, rootkit functionality, and rogue anti-virus or fake AV which has been common in the past 6 to 9 months.
If you patched your Windows OS when they came out with updates in October of 2008, and use strong passwords, and disable autorun, you are probably just fine. You must always be on the lookout for new attack vectors. The bad guys are out there and they want to gain financially at your expense. Learn to protect yourself. I have many posts in the past that should help you in taking the steps to stay safe.
Stay safe, hope your weekend was fabulous and bring on the new week!
Why all the hype? Probably the main responsibility for spreading the hype was all the security vendors such as AV vendors, and other companies dealing in computer security. Nothing really happened April 1. Now on Thursday of this past week, the Conficker Worm started to push payloads to the infected hosts out there on the Internet. Things that were seen included keyloggers, rootkit functionality, and rogue anti-virus or fake AV which has been common in the past 6 to 9 months.
If you patched your Windows OS when they came out with updates in October of 2008, and use strong passwords, and disable autorun, you are probably just fine. You must always be on the lookout for new attack vectors. The bad guys are out there and they want to gain financially at your expense. Learn to protect yourself. I have many posts in the past that should help you in taking the steps to stay safe.
Stay safe, hope your weekend was fabulous and bring on the new week!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Media Hype about Conficker
The major media outlets are shouting from the mountain top about this horrible virus that will ruin the Internet as we know it. In my opinion, not much will happen April 1. Actually the USA only accounts for 5.8 % of all machines that are compromised. I don't normally watch CBS's 60 Minutes but I stopped when I heard the story about Conficker. If you saw the examples they showed, it is all true. You can get malware on your PC even if you have a firewall and AV.
What people should worry about is what happens after April 1. The criminals behind Conficker don't want the Internet to meltdown. This is how they make their money. And where are these attackers from? Most likely China, Russia, or some other Eastern European country.
Microsoft issued an out of band patch back on 10/23/08 that closed this vulnerability. Do you patch? If not, I preach it. Look up prior posts that I've written about on ways to make you more up to date with security patches. I recommend that you go to Secunia and download their client that helps you keep up to date on Microsoft, Adobe, and many other vendor software.
So when you wake up tomorrow, I'm sure that the Internet will still be there. You will be able to check your FaceBook, Twitter, etc. Not much will change. Just realize that the Internet is full of malware. They really know how to evade security software by morphing so that security vendors can't get a good signature of the virus. The Internet is already full of malware today. It will be full of it tomorrow. Learn to be more secure. Realize that it is a risk to be on the Internet. Learn to accept the risk and have fun.
Stay safe and have a fabulous April Fool's Day.
What people should worry about is what happens after April 1. The criminals behind Conficker don't want the Internet to meltdown. This is how they make their money. And where are these attackers from? Most likely China, Russia, or some other Eastern European country.
Microsoft issued an out of band patch back on 10/23/08 that closed this vulnerability. Do you patch? If not, I preach it. Look up prior posts that I've written about on ways to make you more up to date with security patches. I recommend that you go to Secunia and download their client that helps you keep up to date on Microsoft, Adobe, and many other vendor software.
So when you wake up tomorrow, I'm sure that the Internet will still be there. You will be able to check your FaceBook, Twitter, etc. Not much will change. Just realize that the Internet is full of malware. They really know how to evade security software by morphing so that security vendors can't get a good signature of the virus. The Internet is already full of malware today. It will be full of it tomorrow. Learn to be more secure. Realize that it is a risk to be on the Internet. Learn to accept the risk and have fun.
Stay safe and have a fabulous April Fool's Day.
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