Preemptive Protection from Conficker

Thankfully April 1st has passed and there hasn’t been a peep out of the ominous Conficker Worm.  With close to 4% of the world’s PCs infected by the worm, it is important to take preemptive steps to insure that your PCs and/or networks are protected from the source of the spread, primarily rouge domain names which have a tendency to infect.  It is also imperative that you implement the critical patches that Microsoft has been releasing in order to combat the spread of Conficker, also referred to as Downadup.

Here are a few steps to help slow down the wave of Conficker infections:

1. Add the Conficker domain blocklist to your home or office network.  Simply add the blocklist domains to your router.  The most reliable block list can be found at F-Secure.
2. Make sure you are machine is applying critical updates to your Windows operating system.  If you are not sure than run Windows Update from your start menu and apply any critical patches.
3. If you are a network administrator implement security policies that disable auto run features for your users and try to keep memory stick usage to a minimum.  Many times your users will accidentally walk Conficker into the building without even knowing it.
4. Consistently run your Anti-Virus software and make sure your definitions are being updated regularly.

Implementing these four critical steps will reduce your Conficker susceptibility significantly.  No one knows for sure what the Conficker Worm will do in the end, but preemptive protection and prevention is really the best policy in the meantime.