The ‘ole Conficker worm still infecting PCs years later

‘Obstinate’ Conficker worm infests millions of PCs years later
By Gregg Keizer, Computerworld

Suppressed botnet has 7M Windows machines in its grip three years after it first appeared

And Mac users thought they had it bad with their Flashback, which is not good, so don’t get me wrong here. But Apple should be watching closely situations like Conficker worm/botnet. What’s that old saying? But by the grace of God go I? or something like that.

Of course this is one of the most widespread botnets to hit Windows PCs, but still, it’s only one of many that are out there for PCs. And although Microsoft made similar mistakes as Apple in regard to malware/viruses/botnets initially, they made up for it in time. They even put out their own antivirus/antimalware program – Microsoft Security Essentials for free to home users to help protect their users. But even with their experience with these things for many years and learning from their mistakes, there is this…

Concern about Conficker reached a crescendo when the mainstream media, including major television networks, reported that the worm would update itself on April 1, 2009. Because of the size of the Conficker botnet — estimates ran as high as 12 million at that point — and other mysteries, hype ran at fever pitch.

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It also urged all Windows users to ensure they have applied the pertinent patch — MS08-067 — and for Windows XP and Vista machines, the March update that disables AutoRun.

Much more in the 2 page article.