If you haven’t already heard by now, there is a worm loose on the internet that is known as Confiker or, alternatively, Kido or Downadup.
The latest version, Confiker.E, will ensnare infected computers, placing them into the Waledec botnet.
Additionally, it will serve up scareware, designed to entice the recipient into buying fake anti-virus software that undoubtedly causes a whole lot more harm.
This viral attack specifically targets computer systems that run on the Windows operating system.
Looking at my web logs I can see that many people are coming to this site looking for information about Confiker and a question that they are asking is how to tell if their system is infected.
So, here are some quick and simple things to look out for to see if you may have been infected by the Confiker worm -
1. Are you having trouble accessing some of the folders on your computer’s hard drive, more so when logged in as the administrator?
If so, this is a strong sign that you may have been Confickered.
2. Is your computer acting strangely?
If auto-save points appear to have been changed, or your PC starts randomly locking up or rebooting then this may be another indication that the worm has entered your system.
3. Do you use Windows services such as Windows Defender and Automatic Updates?
If either of these, or other operating system services have been inexplicably disabled then you may have been hit by Conficker.
4. Are you having trouble connecting to anti-virus type websites, be it the one for the service you have installed or any of the other leading brands?
Inability to view anti-virus websites, or incredibly slow loading times are another sign of infection.
If any of the above 4 points ring true for you then Confiker may be on your system.
You should run a full scan of your system with your anti-virus program or, if you don’t have one, then attempt to get one from a source offline, such as a store, or get a friend to bring a free anti-virus program over on a disk.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for this guide my computer has been playing up recently and re-booting by itself.
That doesn’t mean for sure that you are infected by Confiker but it would certainly be worth running a full anti-virus scan.