Prejudicious Conficker Virus Exasperates Into A Stealer

The Conficker worm that infected millions of computers around the world this month is now morphing and spreading, and is apparently posing an identity theft issue.

What is Conficker worm:

The Conficker worm is a computer worm that can infect your computer and spread itself to other computers across a network automatically, without human interaction.

What does the Conficker worm do?

To date, security researchers have discovered two variants of the worm in the wild

• Win32/Conficker.A was reported to Microsoft on November 21, 2008.
• Win32/Conficker.B was reported to Microsoft on December 29, 2008.
• Win32/Conficker.C was reported to Microsoft on February 20, 2009.
• Win32/Conficker.D was reported to Microsoft on March 4, 2009.

Win32/Conficker.B might spread through file sharing and via removable drives, such as USB drives (also known as thumb drives). The worm adds a file to the removable drive so that when the drive is used, the AutoPlay dialog will show one additional option.

Conficker Exasparates and Steals!

Conficker is now aggravating into an anti-virus program called Spyware Protect 2009. The worm takes users to a fake secuirty Web site, asks them to pay $50 for a spyware program that actually is the Conficker worm, then keeps your credit card information, to boot. "It infects your computer," she told Smith. "And it keeps that $50."

Conficker can pop up on your computer in various ways, like a pop-up that advertises a way to prevent the worm, or in your e-mail or Facebook account. So be safe during your online activities and dont click on sites that you are unfamiliar about.

Conficker Worm Bites.

More than 700 computers at the University of Utah have been infected with the Conficker worm. The hit includes computers at the university's three hospitals, the Associated Press reported early Sunday. University spokesman Chris Nelson said the outbreak was detected Thursday, the AP reported. By the next day, the worm had struck at the hospitals, medical school, and the nursing, pharmacy, and health colleges. Patient records have not been touched, Nelson said. IT cut off Net access for up to six hours on Friday in order to isolate the virus, the AP reported.

Am I at risk of having the Conficker worm?

Most antivirus software could detect and block the Conficker worm, so if you have updated antivirus software on your computer, you are at a much lower risk of being infected by the Conficker worm, if for some reason you are worried that your computer isinfected by Conficker wormjust take up the Simple Conficker Chart test.

This test helps you diagnose your system for Conficker Infection. Since, Conficker worm blocks your system from accessing security and anti virus websites, trying to access such sites can help you ensure if your Computer is infected with Conficker or not.