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Breaking news tutorials - #16 - Conficker worm set to come alive

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Breaking news tutorials

#16 / March 26, 2009 / 3:00 min.

Conficker worm set to come alive

The Downadup/Conficker worm has already infected over 15 million computers in China, India, the United States, England and other countries. The worm affects primarily corporate networks, but personal computer users need to be vigilant. The worm is spread primarily via pirated software and through network connections. Microsoft released a patch that fixed the security flaws, but the infected systems did not apply the patch, often because the copy of Windows is pirated. It's believed that the Conficker Worm will become active on April 1st. What it will do at that time is anyone's guess.

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- The Conficker / Downadup worm is expected to become active on April 1.

The Downadup worm infects computers running Windows 95, 98, ME, Windows NT, XP, Vista, and Windows Server 2003

- Some symptoms include disabling of Automatic Updates, slow domain controllers, sluggish and congested networks and reset lockout policies.

- The worm also takes advantage of common, dictionary-based passwords. This is all the more reason to be more creative in password creation. See our tutorial on creating and remembering strong passwords

- The worm can be spread through USB devices, like thumb drives and flash drives, and by taking advantage of Windows' Autorun and Autoplay functions.

- The Conficker / Downadup worm can be removed and/or disinfected with most anti-virus software. Make sure your anti-virus software is updated and run a full scan of your PC.