60 Minutes Conficker and Malware Report

On Sunday, 60 minutes joined the multitude of websites and blogs that are reporting on the Conficker worm that is supposedly set to deliver its malware payload on April 1st. The CBS 60 minutes report is mostly background information on computer viruses for the uninformed masses, but it does bring up a few good points. Watch the episode below:

EDIT: CBS has apparently removed this video from their website (transcript is still available here). I assume it is because of numerous reporting errors, and the use of an image of Finnish school kids that are supposed “Russian hackers”. This image was used in an internet joke 5 years ago and these kids have nothing to do with internet viruses. More on this in the comments of the removed video.

60 Minutes is the latest mass media outlet to join in on the Conficker hype. It seems that viruses and worms that have set activation dates, like Conficker does, generate a large amount of press just prior to the event. However, most viruses like this one end up not causing much damage, and they fade away very quickly. The TrendLabs Malware Blog seems to think this will be the case with Conficker as well.

The fact is, most people are already protected from Conficker because of a Microsoft security patch that should have been automatically installed back in October. If for one reason or another you didn’t install this patch, you may be infected already. Reports from around the web state that most infections are located in China, Brazil, Russia, India, and Argentina, but there are instances of infection surfacing in the US.

The creators of worms like Conficker love all of this hype because it gives them a chance to infect new systems. Searches on Google for things like “remove conficker” bring up harmful links that will in fact deliver the worm to the very people looking to remove it. In its detailed report of the different instances of Conficker, Trend Micro states that internet based virus scans will not be effective at removing this worm because it is programmed to block these websites. If you can’t access one of these online system scans, you system is most likely infected.

If that is the case, your best bet is to download the free Trend Micro Sysclean Package to a flash drive using a clean computer. Run the scan, install the latest Microsoft Windows patches, and go on with your life.

One other way to avoid this virus and many other viruses? Get a Mac. The Conficker worm and many, many other viruses only target PC’s, and more specifically Windows.

Tomorrow we will know the true extent of this worm’s damage to the worldwide internet, but my guess is it will come and go without much fanfare.