University of Utah stormed by the Conficker worm, which affects Microsoft Windows

The Conficker worm has infected several million computers since it first started spreading in late 2008. In this paper German developers presented several potential methods to repel Conficker. The approaches presented take advantage of the way Conficker patches infected systems, which can be used to remotely detect a compromised system.

As Linux sysadmins, many of us still need to deal with Windows worms and how they affect our networks. Tomorrow is April 1st, and the Conficker worm will be activating on vulnerable computers everywhere. Here's a quick HOW-TO showing how you can detect compromised and/or vulnerable computers on your network

When tools for fighting against Conficker only run on GNU/Linux. COMPANIES WHOSE machines leak sensitive data, attack other machines, and cause other forms of sabotage need not fret. They can finally assess the damage already done, if any. They will, however, need to get hold of GNU/Linux first.

Use Linux to do a quick scan of your network. The new beta version of nmap can scan your network for conficker activity. This is a quick easy way to check to see if you are infected; Beware there may be some false positives but at least this will start you down the path of detection.

I hadn't thought about it for a while, but given the recent Conficker outbreak, I got to rethink of the whole thing again. Now.... there was something that bothered me A LOT.... and it still does (though I'm not working with them anymore, I still feel like I'm a part of the family). They are still developing applications in-house using proprietary frameworks tied to Windows.

This is the first in a series about how versatile Python is and the many use-cases for this scripting language.

The first article covers the use of Python for the conficker scanner by Tillmann Werner of honeynet.org.

Windows security menace makes a good reason to make the move

The other day a friend came to me with a problem, he had been surfing the internet for information about the conficker worm virus. As he misspelled the name as configer virus he didn't find a lot of real information on this virus. What he did find was a lot of links to site which were indicated by google as harmful to your computer.