The economy is bad. A plane has crashed today. The stock market has been in crash mode for months and people need some good news. Well, how about a way to make $250,000 courtesy of Microsoft? No, this is not a scam. Just follow the most recent wanted ads. Wanted Dead OR Alive! Well, not really but there is a $250,000 reward being offered by Microsoft. Microsoft is offering a $250,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of hackers behind a powerful computer virus. The Conficker or Downadup virus may not be fatal, but it spreads the most serious computer infections ever seen. It infects mostly corporate networks and then provides a link back to its point of origin. This allows the virus an entry point to cause additional damage even after the initial infection.
Microsoft has created a patch to fix the bug. Nevertheless, the patch will not correct a network where the virus has already spread. "As part of Microsoft's ongoing security efforts, we constantly look for ways to use a diverse set of tools and develop methodologies to protect our customers," explained George Stathakopoulos, of Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Group.
Microsoft has previously rewarded informants who identified the creator of Sasser, a 2004 virus. The alleged creator was tracked to Germany, where he was later convicted.
So now is the time to play cyber detective and earn a few dollars...
Update 2-16-09: Legal Pub seldom singles out posts. But Eddie Phillips post on this subject is a must read. In fact, I am also providing a link to his web site as well. PHILLIPS LINK.
Update 4-9-09: Conficker worm is updating via peer-to-peer between infected computers and dropping a mystery payload on infected computers according to , Trend Micro. For many the worm activated on April 1, 2009. It is suspected that this is a keystroke logger or some other program designed to steal sensitive data off a computer. The heavily encrypted software appears as a .sys component hiding behind a rootkit. A rootkit is software designed to hide the fact that a computer has been compromised. , according to Trend Micro. The worm tries to connect to MySpace.com, MSN.com, eBay.com, CNN.com and AOL.com to test a computer's Internet connectivity. The software allegedly is designed to shut down on May 3. For questions, consult TrendLabs Malware Blog.
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8 comments:
Apparently some of the other pilots in the area noticed ice building up on their wings. Speculation is that ice brought down the plane that crashed.
Shell
Bad news on the plane, but I want in on the cash reward!
Geekster
This is a true crime!
I know how to boot and reboot my computer ... does that count?
That counts!
We are still seeing a lot of individuals coming to downadup.com, locked out from Microsoft and anti-virus sites by the virus, trying to fix their computers. The Conficker Cabal helps the industry, but not the PC owners. The industry needs to set up a common, free support site at one or more unblocked domains with tools for victims to fix their Windows machines. XP Home users, for example, have no simple way outside of the registry hack (documented on our site and several others) to disable Autoplay. These infected machines represent a potential ongoing source of reinfection. People are paying rental geeks hundreds of dollars on house calls even though they owned (and regularly updated) antivirus software. Finally, the technical community needs to stop the "ha ha - get a mac/linux" attitude and act with a sense of service to their friends and neighbors who own Windows PCs and do not have the luxury to change.
Update 2-16-09: Legal Pub seldom singles out posts. But Eddie Phillips post on this subject is a must read. In fact, I am also providing a link to his web site as well. PHILLIPS LINK.
Update 4-9-09: Conficker worm is updating via peer-to-peer between infected computers and dropping a mystery payload on infected computers according to , Trend Micro. For many the worm activated on April 1, 2009. It is suspected that this is a keystroke logger or some other program designed to steal sensitive data off a computer. The heavily encrypted software appears as a .sys component hiding behind a rootkit. A rootkit is software designed to hide the fact that a computer has been compromised. , according to Trend Micro. The worm tries to connect to MySpace.com, MSN.com, eBay.com, CNN.com and AOL.com to test a computer's Internet connectivity. The software allegedly is designed to shut down on May 3. For questions, consult TrendLabs Malware Blog.
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