NEW INTERNET WORM

There is a new Internet worm, (a malicious software program), that has swept through corporate, educational and public computers all over the world, (more than 9 MM computers ) and is spreading quickly.



This worm has been named Conficker or Downaup. It is spread by a recently discovered Microsoft Windows vulnerability, by guessing network passwords and by hand-carried gadgets like USB flash drives.



This type of worm harness infected computers into unified systems called botnets, which accept programming from their clandestine masters. Many computer users may not notice that their machines have been infected: The worm operates in the background to send spam or infect other computers and steal PC user's personal information.



Back in October 2008, Microsoft rushed an emergency patch to defend the Windows OS against this worm, but because not every user has installed this patch, the worm continues to spread at a very fast rate.



Security researchers, have estimated that at least 30% of Windows OS based computers linked to the Internet remain vulnerable to infection because they have not been updated with the patch.



Once infected, the computer will allow someone to remotely command it without the computer owner's knowledge.



Our advice: MAKE SURE TO GO TO MICROSOFT.COM AND CHECK THE STATUS OF YOUR SOFTWARE UPDATES; ONCE THERE, DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL ALL UPDATES THAT HAVE NOT YET BEEN INSTALLED.



If you have questions on how to do it, e-mail me at gfreire@att.net and I'll be glad to tell you what to do.



George Freire