Conficker.E Linked to Fake Antivirus Software Scams
There is no doubt that Conficker Worm has been a serious threat to the computer security world over the past couple months.
The newest variant of Conficker, Conficker.E, has gained traction since April 8th when it was first discovered to be updated. The main difference in the newer Conficker.E variant would be it’s ability to propagate and infect users over p2p or peer-to-peer file sharing networks. Instead of using Conficker.C or previous versions of Conficker to spread through the 50,000 newly generated domains, it goes the route of infecting computers through P2P networks over the internet.
Conficker.E is suspected to be communicating with a Waledec worm domain which is behind a wave of fake antivirus applications or scamware. Just like rogue anti-spyware applications, rogue antivirus programs are misleading in a way that it cohorts computer users into purchasing a full version of the fake antivirus application. Conficker.E could be a new culprit for aiding to the spread of fake antivirus programs. It may be safe to say that many security experts did not see this coming.
