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.CA Registrar Trying To Preempt Conficker

Posted by timothy on from the circling-the-wagons dept.

clover kicker writes "The CBC reports that the group managing Canada's .ca internet domain is working to foil an internet worm set to attack starting April Fool's Day. 'This is the first virus that's really focused on domain names as part of propagating the virus itself,' said Byron Holland, CEO of the Canadian Internet Registration Authority, a non-profit organization that represents those who hold a .ca domain. CIRA's strategy includes pre-emptively registering and isolating previously unregistered .ca domain names that Conficker C is expected to try and generate, said a news release issued by the group. That would make those names unavailable for anyone to register in order to set up a website to host the worm's 'command and control' file. A list of the names has been predicted by security experts based on the worm's code. In addition, CIRA is investigating and monitoring activity at names on the list that have already been registered and will 'take appropriate action if suspicious activity is detected.'"

20 of 227 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Obama Policies Will Bankrupt USA Tsarkon Report by Niris · · Score: 2, Funny

    Got your tin foil hat ready, too? :D

  2. I feel left out... by erroneus · · Score: 5, Funny

    My wife runs MacOS and I have my Linux... I really wish I could get involved in the party. Will Cornfucker run under Wine?

    1. Re:I feel left out... by vistapwns · · Score: 2, Funny

      As soon as your OS is used by more than 50 people, you'll be invited. :)

      --
      "...I think the Microsoft hatred is a disease." - Linus Torvalds
    2. Re:I feel left out... by JimXugle · · Score: 3, Funny

      No. It uses a vulnerability in the Windows File and Printer sharing daemon to inject a DLL file into svchost.exe.

      I suggest filing a bug with SAMBA and Wine, respectively.

      --
      -jX

      Don't you just love politics? It's like a comedy of errors.
    3. Re:I feel left out... by erroneus · · Score: 4, Funny

      Oh your elitist, mob-rule attitude is not helpful. Some of us aren't fortunate enough to be able to afford Microsoft software. The wife's Mac OS X came with her machine and my computer did come with Windows installed on it but I didn't create the restore media before my machine was trashed with malware. So instead of buying software, I got free software. It works just fine though. Well enough to post here, view all sorts of porn that would have trashed my computers again if I were running Windows, and aside from playing games and DRM media, I can do anything I ever wanted to do.

      It is only during events like those created by cornfucker that I really begin to feel left out of the party.

    4. Re:I feel left out... by cp.tar · · Score: 2, Funny

      I recall a test of viruses under Wine, a while ago... apparently, only a few of the tested viruses would even run, but none were able to do anything dangerous.

      Some have used this as an argument that Wine is not nearly compatible enough.

      --
      Ignore this signature. By order.
    5. Re:I feel left out... by roaddemon · · Score: 4, Funny

      Oh the irony: "Some of us aren't fortunate enough to be able to afford Microsoft software. The wife's Mac OS X..."

    6. Re:I feel left out... by KillerBob · · Score: 3, Funny

      nono.. that's why he can't afford Windows... he had to sell the car and remortgage the house to buy the Mac.

      --
      If you believe everything you read, you'd better not read. - Japanese proverb
  3. Re:Tactics? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    "grammer" nazi?

  4. April Fools!!! by gsgriffin · · Score: 5, Funny

    is all the worm pops on the screen and does. Now how much money did you spend trying to ward off this script? That will be the real joke.

    --
    jsut athnoer menagiensls ltitle psrhae for you to dcoede. Why do we wtsae our tmie dnoig tihs?
  5. Re:Hrm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Anti-virus software becomes live CDs that require a reboot to use. When you run it, it either replies "Your computer is fine" or "You must reinstall Windows".

  6. Re:Hrm by tuxgeek · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm sure there are a variety of *nix users out there anxiously waiting on the sidelines with popcorn and a soda ready for the show to begin.
    We can only hope for some explosions to make it interesting.

    --
    "Suppose you were an idiot...and suppose you were a member of Congress...but I repeat myself." Mark Twain
  7. What's in a name? by schmidt349 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I think I've heard every lexically significant variation on the name of this damn worm by now. I have no idea what "Conficker" actually means or to what it refers, but so far on this thread people have called it "Conflicker," "Cornflicker," and best of all "Cornfucker."

    I think another name for it is "Downadup," which I always read as either "Downandup" or "Download a Duplicate."

    Who gets to name the worms? We know that this one employs neat tricks like code signing peer-to-peer driven software updates and that it might be used for a sort of "evil Google" that people can use to data mine financial stuff and so on. Couldn't we lobby for a more rational taxonomy, so we could call this one "Cryptographically Labyrinthine Internet-Traveling ORganized Information Stumbler?"

    1. Re:What's in a name? by cez · · Score: 1, Funny

      Bad idea, the CLITORIS can not be found by man... certainly not a slashdotter.

      --
      Walk with Music;
  8. Re:Helps, but not much ... by Dr.+Cody · · Score: 5, Funny

    I saw the article today on CBC (Canada's equivalent of the BBC).

    Well, that would certainly explain the "C," wouldn't it?

  9. i just got off the toilet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    i shit out an obama, stimulus plan and all!

    plop!

  10. Re:Hrm by Yvanhoe · · Score: 3, Funny

    Hell yeah ! Carry on little skynet !

    --
    The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
  11. Re:Tactics? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    You would be a naziism nazi, then?

  12. Re:Hrm by troll8901 · · Score: 2, Funny

    bandwidth requirements for spam and other garbage keep climbing

    What? BitTorrent isn't number one traffic anymore? This is not acceptable!

    *ducks*

  13. Re:Hrm by nmg196 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Am I the only one hoping like hell that someone will release this virus for the Mac and Linux platforms? :)