Are You Infected With Conficker? Do the 20 Second Check

Conficker is not a new virus. It was originally released in late 2008 but has lately been receiving a lot of attention including a feature on 60 Minutes on March 29th, 2009. The hype is mostly because there are some unknowns about the virus and because some estimates put the number of infections as high as 15 million PCs. According to Symantec, less than one percent of the total number of infections occur in the United States. About 30 percent of infections occur in China, followed by Brazil, Argentina, Russia, and India The current hype is due to the fact that on April 1st, 2009, Conficker will attempt to contact a number of sites and download files that could cause further harm. This behaviour is not new, but with so many machines being infected, the risk is greater than normal.

There are several removal tools available from Microsoft, BitDefender, and others. With a simple virus scan. AVG and McAfee anti-virus software will remove the virus automatically.

• Get the Bit Defender removal tool here: https://www.bdtools.net/ (Use the single computer version).
• Extract the files from the zip archive by copying them to the desktop.
• Look for the file called “bd_rem_tool_gui.exe” (or just “bd_rem_tool_gui”) and Double Click to run it.
• Click the Start button and the software will tell you very quickly if you are infected and proceed to remove Conficker if indeed you are infected.
• Run this Tool on each machine in your organization.
  

• Make sure you have Antivirus installed on your system and keep it up to date. (This alone is half the battle.)
• Make sure that automatic updates are enabled from Microsoft and that you download and apply updates when they come up in the bottom right corner of the screen. Instructions: https://www.top-windows-tutorials.com/microsoft-windows-xp-updates.html Vista Instructions: https://www.top-windows-tutorials.com/windows-vista-updates.html
• Be careful when you surf the web. Don't click on pop-ups and if a website looks “fishy” then it's probably best to leave
  

DigitalFire Inc. is here to help. If you have any questions about Conficker or other malicious software and how to protect yourself from them, don't hesitate to contact us. The average support call is 30 min. $45 to fix a problem. It's well worth the peace of mind knowing that you're covered. Estimates are always free.

More information on Conficker:

Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conficker

Wall Street Journal: https://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/01/23/the-conficker-virus-dont-panic

Symantec: https://www.symantec.com/norton/theme.jsp?themeid=conficker_worm