Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Conficker April 1 Warnings Boost Rogue Infections

With so many warnings and new articles about the Conficker worm and the possibility of a malicious attack on infected computers April Fools Day, fear has swept over PC users globally.

The media and security experts are reporting that computers infected with Conficker have a very high likelihood of coming under the control of a criminal master machine on April Fool's Day. Without certainty of what will take place tomorrow, PC users are being warned to protect their computers by patching Windows completely through Windows Update and make sure they have anti-malware and antivirus software up& running, as Conficker may have disabled it.

PC users who have been neglecting to protect their computers are in a panic to get the latest Windows Update patches and install antispyware and antivirus software in an attempt to avoid a possible Conficker bomb tomorrow. In an attempt to find security software that will protect against Conficker, many people are actually downloading criminal software, software that is made to look like legitimate antispyware or antivirus software, but is actually fake.

Unfortunately the rogue antispyware creeps are taking advantage of this mass hysteria and security software downloading frenzy by targeting people with ad campaigns across publisher networks, including Google Adwords. Creators and promoters of rogue antispyware are also working their corrupt websites to the top of search engines for popular searched phrases people are using to quickly cover their butts. Searched phrases like "Remove Conficker from my computer" in Google will return websites that promote rogue antispyware and without further investigation, people are willingly downloading corrupt and potentially very dangerous software onto their computers without a second thought.

It's always best to investigate any software downloaded from the internet, especially software that claims to be free. Rogue software can be potentially very dangerous, promoters of corrupt software feed right into the hysteria of the Conficker worm and are lining their pockets with all the uninformed hasty downloads and purchases people are making.

Recommendation:
Protect yourself from Conficker, and at the same time, avoid other scams if you can help it.

2 comments:

  1. I've heard from multiple sources that the Conficker worm won't be a threat to Mac users, thank goodness

    ReplyDelete
  2. PC users who stay on top of their Windows updates will avoid infection from Conficker or Downup as well.

    ReplyDelete