New Microsoft worm sees spike in number of infections

A bug patched more than two months ago in one of Microsoft's rare, out-of-cycle updates has reared its ugly head. Administrators who have not yet patched against this vulnerability are feeling the heat as the Conficker worm spreads like a wildfire through corporate networks by exploiting systems not already updated with the patch.

According to security vendor F-Secure Corp., the worms are frustratingly difficult to disinfect as they lock users out of their accounts.  Upon infection, the worm attempts to download updated versions from a changing list of locations, blocks most security software updates and for good measure, installs more malware on the machine. It has several attack vectors, including spreading by copying itself into USB storage devices, via the Microsoft RPC flaw itself, and also attempts to crack passwords by means of a built-in dictionary.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at Computerworld
- check out this article at SearchSecurity

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