Protection is Here for Win32/Conficker.A and .B

Has your computer been infected recently?
Last month I wrote about the Conflicker Infection that has been the topic of many security experts.  Anyone who received an update patch from Microsoft last fall should be safe but apparently, plenty of people aren’t updating regularly.

Microsoft has recognized this infection is still around and has provided a fix along with additional information at http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/viruses/worms/conficker.mspx Thanks to Brett Roberts in Auckland, New Zealand for the tip.

Is it that bad?
The French publisher Libération has reported the Conficker worm disrupted computers used by the Ministry of Defense in France and grounded the Navy's Dassault Rafale aircraft.

Last Friday the City of Houston Courts System had been infected and shut itself down for the day.  While they expect the court system to be up and running on Monday, many expect to find Conficker popping up on other city systems. While I typically recommend waiting a week or so for Microsoft’s Windows Updates, this is one update too many people missed.

Additional Help
If you use OpenDNS, which I recommended last year, you’ll soon have additional protection.  Starting Monday, OpenDNS will offer a feature to help administrators detect local machines which have been infected and will block machines from phoning home their payload. This is an entirely new direction for OpenDNS but given the scope of Conficker I think they may be on the right track. If you missed my post on OpenDNS you can read more at http://billpstudios.blogspot.com/2008/03/speed-up-internet-access-with-opendns.html

Update 2/10: Reports out of Houston now indicate the city's infection was in fact W32/Virut.n a variant of the virus Virut. This is contrary to news stories still being filed. The city had been using antivirus software from McAfee which did not include a signature file for this infection. Total down time was 4 days.

PC World reports, OpenDNS has partnered with our comrades at Kaspersky to obtain updated lists of malicious IP addesses.

Update 2/12: To show how serious they think Conficker is, Microsoft has announced a $250,000 reward towards the arrest and conviction of the folks responsible for this virus.
http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2009/feb09/02-12ConfickerPR.mspx 

Update 3/26:
 Conficker Judgement Day on April 1st

 Real Conficker Danger is March 31st

 

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Speed up Internet Access with OpenDNS

There are a lot of tweaks around to speed up your internet access but today I’d like to share one that includes many other features you won’t believe you lived without.

When you enter a web address into your browser you don’t go directly to the destination. The text based web address is first submitted to a DNS(Domain Name System) service. A DNS service converts this friendly text name URL to a numeric address that might look something like 192.168.1.112. Once you receive your web page, every component on the web page that includes a web address must also go through the DNS to convert the address before rendering the image or other object on the page.

The DNS you’re using is determined by your local ISP. If you’re using Verizon, Road Runner, Comcast or dialup, they pick the DNS for you. Did you know you can actually pick your own DNS. The results may be faster browsing and some custom features including the ability to filter unwanted websites.

I’ve been using the DNS service, OpenDNS and I’m very happy with their speed and service. You can learn more at https://www.opendns.com/

For the average user the DNS can be changed for just one computer or you can make a change to your router so it all the computers in your home or office will benefit from a single step.

To make the change on a single computer here are the screens for Windows XP modification. Open up your Network device and select the Properties for the Internet Protocol.

Next just choose to use your own DNS and enter the IP address for OpenDNS. The magic numbers are 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220.

Instructions are provided on the OpenDNS website to change other operating systems and they also have instructions on how to just make a single change on your router. Click Get Started and see what you think. You’ll need to create an account to benefit from the custom features.

Click to Get Started

Speeding up internet access is a plus but you’ll find many other advantages in using OpenDNS. One popular feature is the ability to block complete categories of web sites. You can still add sites to a white list if one of your favorite sites is included in one of the categories.

OpenDNS Categories

There’s more! How about Internet Shortcut? Type in a single word intoyour browser and OpenDNS will return the web site you specify.

My current personal shortcuts.

OpenDNS is free and has been around for so long I can’t believe I haven’t used it sooner. If you’re like me you’re probably wondering about privacy concerns. OpenDNS has a posted privacy policy but they’ll have access to every web page I visit right? Well, it’s no different than my current DNS and IP having access to this information. It’s the nature of the beast called the Internet. I’ve talked to users who haven been with OpenDNS and they’re still very satisfied.

Another method some of you may already use to speed up domain name conversion or to block sites is by editing the HOST file on your system. I’ve written about HOST files before and you can click here to learn more. I generally recommend against adding to the HOST file because of performance issues when the file gets too huge.

Update: Thanks to Jeber to pointing me to another OpenDNS post.
OpenDNS - What it is and Why you absoluately need it

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