John Pescatore

Talking about worms seems sooo 2001, but they’re baaack!! In October 2008, Gartner put out a First Take warning about the severity of the Microsoft vulnerabilities in Windows Server services and the importance of rapidly pushing out the MS08-67 patch. The current wave of Conficker/Downadup compromised PCs illustrates what we were worried about. There were active attacks back in October but apparently many enterprises have been slow to patch – mostly outside the US, according to F-Secure’s analysis.

We haven’t put out another First Take – the October advice still holds: patch, update IPS, the same old drill. Don’t get complacent – just because other forms of attack (identity theft! cyber war!) have captured the interest of the press doesn’t mean the old forms of attack aren’t still active. Remember that Gartner Hype Cycle – the key is reducing the cost of dealing with the older forms of attack to free up resources to deal with the new. If you can’t do anything else, at least just go turn on auto-update on your PCs.

But Conficker/Downadup aren’t even the worst worms out there. The one you really want to keep out is the Armyworm – Liberia is asking for United Nations assistance to deal with that one – check it out here.

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