Don't fall for the 'Conficter' April fools joke

There is talk going around all over the net and media about some unprecedented killer computer virus set to go off today, April 1st and take out millions of Windows computers.

Tomorrow -- April 1 -- is D-Day for Conficker, as whatever nasty payload it's packing is currently set to activate. What happens come midnight is a mystery: Will it turn the millions of infected computers into spam-sending zombie robots? Or will it start capturing everything you type -- passwords, credit card numbers, etc. -- and send that information back to its masters?

No one knows, but we'll probably find out soon.

Or not. As Slate notes, Conficker is scheduled to go "live" on April 1, but whoever's controlling it could choose not to wreak havoc but instead do absolutely nothing, waiting for a time when there's less heat. They can do this because the way Conficker is designed is extremely clever: Rather than containing a list of specific, static instructions, Conficker reaches out to the web to receive updated marching orders via a huge list of websites it creates. Conficker.C -- the latest bad boy -- will start checking 50,000 different semi-randomly-generated sites a day looking for instructions, so there's no way to shut down all of them. If just one of those sites goes live with legitimate instructions, Conficker keeps on trucking.

Source

I've had worried friends and work mates coming to me about buying new virus protection because of the hype the media has placed on this virus.

I guess the joke worked.

April 1st is traditionally April Fools Day.

What better way to fool countless people than threaten them with the deletion of... well, basically their electronic lives? Even look at the name of the virus... Con? Lol.

I've found out off a media contact I know that their particular publication is only carrying the story because other media were... they haven't found any proof of the virus themselves and assume in the office it is an April Fools Joke that is being spread virally across the web and the media.

Don't believe me?

Ask yourself this.

When has there ever been a pre-warning about a large virus that wasn't also accompanied by a prevention patch?

So don't go rushing out to buy the latest $100 anti-virus product just because of a joke. That is what they want you to do.

Instead, if you are worried about it, just download Avast! or AVG anti-virus and be done with it.

[edit on 31-3-2009 by fooffstarr]