Archive for April 1st, 2009



Conficker | Shades Of Y2K?

April 1st, 2009 by Erin Posted in Business, Small Business, Technology | No Comments »

You know things are serious when you see a countdown clock.

Back in ‘99 it was the countdown to Y2K. What would the millenium bug do?

Turns out – nothing much. We can largely thank the scores of IT professionals who worked for years to rewrite bad code before January 1, 2000.  But the media hype was over the top.

But today – this very day actually, April 1st –  techies and businesses alike, are watching and waiting again.

This time all eyes are on Conficker – the nasty computer worm that is set to unleash its fury today, April Fools Day.

CNET actually has a live countdown going – yielding time-stamped accounts of what’s happening with this worm around the world.

So far so good. There’s been no movement yet.

Could all of this Conficker talk be much ado about nothing?

Perhaps.

Experts all agree that there won’t be a huge cyber event associated with this worm. In fact, it’s likely Conficker will remain undercover while our infected computers and networks stay in operation. After all, it’s money these guys are after – not the satisifaction of seeing the world’s computers crumble.

Does this mean we should let our guards down?

Not a chance.

Businesses are especially vulnerable right now, and while nothing may come of Conficker today – the malicious worm is still waiting in the wings.

Now is the time to read up on how to rid your computer of the virus before it actually strikes. If your computer is indeed infected, there are a handful of free removal clients that can do the job.

Funny enough, Conficker really is reminiscent of Y2K – and could, perhaps, go down as being the worst April Fools joke in history.

We’ll just have to wait and see.

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