I cannot stress enough, the importance of maintaining and managing your Window’s Updates or any software for that matter… Microsoft normally issues patches or fixes on the second Tuesday of each month; however, in this case (reflected below), due to the immediate nature of the threat, an “out of cycle” critical update was issued (back in October). This is an example of where systems were compromised as a result of people failing to update their systems. If you updated you should be fine; if not, it is recommended you install the October update, then run the January edition of the MSRT to clean up compromised computers.
clipped from www.computerworld.com
Researcher: Worm infects 1.1M Windows PCs in 24 hours
January 14, 2009 (Computerworld) The computer worm that exploits a months-old Windows bug has infected more than a million PCs in the past 24 hours, a security company said today.
Early Wednesday, Helsinki, Finland-based security firm F-Secure Corp. estimated that 3.5 million PCs have been compromised by the “Downadup” worm, an increase of more than 1.1 million since Tuesday.
The worm, which several security companies have described as surging dramatically during the past few days, exploits a bug in the Windows Server service used by all supported versions of Microsoft Corp.’s operating system, including Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Server 2003 and Server 2008.
Microsoft issued an emergency patch in late October, fixing the flaw with one of its rare “out of cycle” updates.
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January 17, 2009 at 12:02 pm |
[...] more on this checkout Web User UK, and What’s On My PC by fellow Blogger Rick [...]
January 17, 2009 at 6:06 pm |
From 3 million to over 8, in 24 hours? That’s an epidemic.
* The patch was released in October.
* It’s now January.
* This worm is “old school”.
* Trained Network Administrators seem to be the ones with egg on their faces.
Sigh. It’s going to get worse before it gets better.
January 19, 2009 at 9:49 pm |
Not only can this virus disrupt your PC, since it can disable your ability to connect to software update sites it leaves you vulnerable to even more malware. You need to disable AutoPlay as well as patch your PC.
January 19, 2009 at 11:23 pm |
Phillip,
Thank your for the valuable tips… Readers will appreciate it! Note: I had remove the URL you provided due to the risk of phlishing… the information on the site was very good information; however, the source or author was not reflected.
Rick
January 28, 2009 at 2:13 pm |
[...] Is your system infected with the Downadup Worm, Conficker, or Kido? [...]
March 30, 2009 at 8:07 pm |
[...] Is your system infected by the Downadup Worm, Conficker or Kido? [...]