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New Conficker Variant Increases Its Flexibility
CWmike writes "Criminals behind the widespread Conficker worm have released a new version that could signal a major shift in the way the malware operates. The new variant, dubbed Conficker B++, was spotted three days ago by SRI International researchers, who published details of the new code on Thursday. To the untrained eye, the new variant looks almost identical to the previous version of the worm, Conficker B. But the B++ variant uses new techniques to download software, giving its creators more flexibility in what they can do with infected machines."
That a vulnerability patched in October could become a problem.
I'd seriously like to see some malware attacking Linux users. Ubuntu users might be a good target audience with good vulnerability and gullibility. But I would really like to see some attacks to see if Linux or its users are really so much better that Windows users. Further, I would like to see how much could be blocked and avoided.
Security isn't as much of a battle among common Linux users and frankly, I wonder how lax we generally are.
Poor little Conficker never bothers anyone,
Just runnin' down the road's his idea of having fun.
And still true: it still hasn't done anything more than spread and try to keep itself from being purged.
With all the suspense and the scale of infection, whatever the payload is going to be, it'd better be something totally awesome!
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
And they keep coming back to Windows.
"Oh, I KNOW Windows loves me. All the abuse is my fault. I deserve it!"
Guaranteed! This comment 100% Anthrax free!
Awesome. This is the greatest piece of malware I've ever seen. Conficker has done an absolutely wonderful job of becoming a real, recognized, major threat, even worming its way into several government systems.
The fact that it's evolving to continue its journey into every computer it can find is quite impressive to me. I don't think I've ever heard of a malware threat this bad. Conficker's botnet is now measured in percentage of Windows machines infiltrated. When you get a significant percentage of computers like, say, 30% of 90% of the Desktop OS market (or whatever M$'s current stranglehold is worth), that's something to be proud of.
I haven't heard of this actually doing anything malicious yet, and judging from some comments here, it hasn't actually done anything yet. But whatever it does do (after it disables and resets all the preferences and whatnot), I bet it's completely epic and noteworthy and huge and stuff. There's no way something giant isn't going down when all is said and done.
I applaud the efforts of the programmers who wrote this quite beautiful program and set it loose in the wild. I look forward to more developments, both in the program and the fight against it, and I look forward to laughing my ass off as it infiltrates Windows system after Windows system, while remembering how recently I converted to Linux. :)
Let q be a radix > 1. I am in ur base-q, killing 10 d00ds.
It's not a virus, it's a worm - it exploits bugs in automated OS services to run the code. There doesn't even need to be a user logged in for this to spread. (It also scans local networks for weak passwords and attempts to install itself via autorun on removable media) However, there is no fundamental reason why those services should run with permission to install anything either.
-- Tim Little
In that case you will never get caught because the current bot owners are not in jail and are selling services....
If they are untouchable, you're safe too.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
Not only did you read TFA, you follow the link from TFA! I'm sorry sir, but the usual question whether or not are you new here doesn't apply to you. ./ standards you are not born yet!
How did it come you have a slashdot account? By