Protect Yourself from the Conficker Computer Worm

March 30, 2009

There have been warnings through many sources about the release of a computer worm on April 1st called Conficker. Conficker is a worm that exploits vulnerability in Microsoft Windows in order to download and execute malicious code. It will also infect any other vulnerable computers on the network.

What We Have Done to Protect You

The department of Information Technology has installed Microsoft server updates that include a patch to prevent Conficker. Most antivirus software also detects and blocks the Conficker worm. You are at a much lower risk of being infected if you have updated antivirus software running on your computer.

How Might the Worm Spread?

The worm might spread through file sharing and via removable drives, such as USB drives (also known as thumb drives).

What Does the Conficker Worm Do?

The worm adds a file to the removable drive so that when the drive is used, the AutoPlay dialog will display one additional option. The option is "Open folder to view files - Publisher not specified"; do not choose this option! "Open folder to view files - using Windows Explorer" is the option that Windows provides and the option you should use.

Questions?

Please contact the Help Desk at )508) 565-1435 with questions about protecting yourself against this virus.