The worm can also spread via USB flash drives.
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Infections of a worm that spreads
through low security networks, memory sticks, and PCs without the
latest security updates is "skyrocketing".
The malicious program, known as Conficker, Downadup, or Kido was first discovered in October 2008.
Anti-virus firm F-Secure estimates there are now 8.9m machines infected.
Experts warn this figure could be far higher and say users
should have up-to-date anti-virus software and install Microsoft's
MS08-067 patch.
In its security blog, F-Secure said that the
number of infections based on its calculations was "skyrocketing" and
that the situation was "getting worse".
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Even having the Windows patch won't keep you safe.
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Speaking to the BBC, Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant
with anti-virus firm Sophos, said the outbreak was of a scale they had
not seen for some time.
"Microsoft did a good job of updating people's home computers,
but the virus continues to infect business who have ignored the patch
update.
"A shortage of IT staff during the holiday break didn't help
and rolling out a patch over a large number of computers isn't easy.
"What's more, if your users are using weak passwords - 12345,
QWERTY, etc - then the virus can crack them in short order," he added.
"But as the virus can be spread with USB memory sticks, even
having the Windows patch won't keep you safe. You need anti-virus
software for that."
Method
According to Microsoft, the worm works by searching for a
Windows executable file called "services.exe" and then becomes part of
that code.
It then copies itself into the Windows system folder as a
random file of a type known as a "dll". It gives itself a 5-8 character
name, such as piftoc.dll, and then modifies the Registry, which lists
key Windows settings, to run the infected dll file as a service.
Once the worm is up and running, it creates an HTTP server,
resets a machine's System Restore point (making it far harder to
recover the infected system) and then downloads files from the hacker's
web site.
Most malware uses one of a handful of sites to download files from, making them fairly easy to locate, target, and shut down.
But Conficker does things differently.
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Right now, we're seeing hundreds of thousands of [infected] unique IP addresses
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Anti-virus firm F-Secure says that the worm uses a complicated
algorithm to generate hundreds of different domain names every day,
such as mphtfrxs.net, imctaef.cc, and hcweu.org. Only one of these will
actually be the site used to download the hackers' files. On the face
of it, tracing this one site is almost impossible.
Variant
Speaking to the BBC, Kaspersky Lab's security analyst, Eddy
Willems, said that a new strain of the worm was complicating matters.
"There was a new variant released less than two weeks ago and that's the one causing most of the problems," said Mr Willems
"The replication methods are quite good. It's using multiple
mechanisms, including USB sticks, so if someone got an infection from
one company and then takes his USB stick to another firm, it could
infect that network too. It also downloads lots of content and creating
new variants though this mechanism."
"Of course, the real problem is that people haven't patched their software," he added.
Technicians have reverse engineered the worm so they can predict
one of the possible domain names. This does not help them pinpoint
those who created Downadup, but it does give them the ability to see
how many machines are infected.
"Right now, we're seeing hundreds of thousands of unique IP
addresses connecting to the domains we've registered," F-Secure's Toni
Kovunen said in a statement.
"We can see them, but we can't disinfect them - that would be seen as unauthorised use."
Microsoft says that the malware has infected computers in many
different parts of the world, with machines in China, Brazil, Russia,
and India having the highest number of victims.
BBC report