If you remember, everyone was up in arms about April 1. This was supposed to be the day that the third version of the Conficker worm was to be released. It’s been several days since April Fools and it seems that nothing big happened. (Knock on wood.)
So what’s up with the Conficker worm? Is it’s reign over? Can we sit back and relax now? According to PC World, no one really knows. They just published a story on it yesterday and here is what they have to say:
But nobody knows for sure what Conficker can accomplish. However, at the time of this writing no Conficker-related catastrophes have surfaced and some think the threat never will. So as attention shifts away from Conficker, it’s important to know where we stand against the world’s most famous piece of malware.
While nothing has happened in the last week, we should not forget that the other 2 versions of the worm is still out there. And if your computer is not protected, you are still a sitting duck.
One thing that I recently learned, you can still access the security patch for the worm even if your operating system is not the real deal (READ: pirated). Data shows that the highest densities of Conficker infections are in areas which have pirated software. And while no one condoning the use of illegal software, “pirates” can still download the security patch directly from Microsoft. So while we don’t know what’s going on with Conficker, we should still be careful.