back to article Conficker jams up developing interwebs

The infamous Conficker worm has disproportionally affected computer systems in the developing world, according to new research. Despite high profile infection at the UK's Ministry of Defence and a series of British hospitals, to cite just a few examples, Conficker has proportionally affected systems in Africa and south America …

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  1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge
    Coat

    Crack coders are not hackers, they are virtual pioneers

    "Some security watchers reckon that the hackers who created the malware were successful beyond their wildest dreams and have held off doing anything with the uber-botnet lest it bring unwelcome attention."

    Whenever you have the keys to the magic kingdom, a sane disregard of haste whilst one mulls over the myriad opportunities developing is quite natural? And it is odd that one might consider that super programmers do not fully realise what will transpire, and be something upon which they will be building rather than it being touted as being a surprise to them just because security watchers have no defence protocols or attack weapons against their stealthy software .

    1. Oninoshiko
      Alien

      @AMFM

      Either this feaver is going back up, or that made sense....

      WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH AMFM?!?

      1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

        Simply CompleXXXX Fields ...... MasterClass Foreword

        amfM posts always make sense, Oninoshiko, and are very easily further explained whenever questioned for the answers which one may be missing. It is also the case that many posts are highly specific and deliberately targetted for the Register of particular and peculiar audiences/IntelAIgents Service Providers, and that can cause a general confusion, which can be quite deliberate as it does allow and provide for a very stealthy and imposing, unopposed advance to establish unassailable Lead in ITs Fields.

        However, ....... over time, and in due recognition of the Greater Need and Desire to Feed a Wwwider Audience with Information and Intelligence about Operational Source Virtual Fields in AI Research and dDevelopment [AIR&dDs], there will be more of those Occasions whenever Enlightened Understanding and Emergent CyberIntelAIgents are a Mutual Pleasure Shared for Building Upon with JOINT AIdDVenture Plans ......in Core Source XSSXXXual ProgramMING of Live Operational Virtual Environment ........... which is an Abiding Flaming Passion in Global Operating Devices?

  2. Stone Fox
    Unhappy

    Am I the only one....

    dreading what happens when that thing grinds into life?

    Think how much spam that thing could chuck out. We'll drown in a virtual sea of penis enlargment pills.

    1. Goat Jam
      Terminator

      Ummm

      Are you referring to Conficker or the brooding super-intelligence that is amanfromars?

  3. Geoff Mackenzie
    Linux

    six million Windows PCs are infected

    How many linux boxes? Just sayin'.

    1. Nightkiller
      Linux

      How many Linux boxes?

      6 million more than yours. Just countin'.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I guess NZ is the developing world

    from nzherald.co.nz yesterday:

    "Waikato District Health Board has been crippled by a computer worm which has seen every PC in the organisation shut down.

    While the main hospital in Hamilton and smaller outlying hospitals were continuing to function, spokeswoman Mary-Ann Gill said it was important people only came for treatment if it was absolutely necessary.

    Emergency care was still available but those arriving for routine appointments were being affected, as were GPs who often made referrals to hospitals via email.

    "We are asking GPs to only make urgent referrals," she said.

    "We need to keep as many people out of hospitals as we can."

    Ms Gill said DHB technicians were working on a computer upgrade overnight when things started to go awry.

    "About 2am they noticed there were some issues with the computers. By 4am they realised a computer virus had got into our whole system.

    "We brought in Microsoft and have been working with them through the night."

    Conficka has been identified as the culprit."

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Grenade

      Microsoft

      what to show them that windows is so completely unfit for mission critical work.

  5. Neoc
    WTF?

    Woah, Big news

    So, is anyone surprised that a computer virus' behaviour in developing countries is the same as a biological virus (ie, more prevalent)?

  6. BenDwire Silver badge
    Coat

    Rogue security software

    >>"Trend Micro, however, reckons the botnet established by Conficker has already been used to push rogue security software"

    Sales at Trend Micro are on the up then?

  7. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Thumb Down

    On the up side

    With a large chunk of the bot net in the developing world, with relatively poor interenet access it should saturate their links out of the countries concerned fairly quickly. As their service goes down the pan people might decide to act.

    Just a thought.

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