April Fools' Conficker Worm May Be Overhyped, Say Experts

Are you afraid of the hyped Conficker worm?

It looks like you may be in for a real April Fools' Day. The worm may be somewhat of an overhyped matter, says Symantec Security Response in a CNET article. Contrary to what people tend to think, the hackers behind Conficker are not seeking some worldwide destruction; instead, they look to 'take over' the infected computers to transfer spam and malware. They are profit-driven, so that makes them less dangerous. So to speak. They are still annoying enough to make Microsoft set up a fancy Conficker Coalition Working Group and, directly from Wild West Silicon Valley, offered a $250,000 reward to anyone who might give information on the Conficker hackers.

Truth is, malware is annoying, very annoying, but it is not the boogie man. People enjoy doomsday warnings (look at Y2K) but Conficker will not be the one to bring the apocalypse just yet. I had my computer (actually my desktop) hacked about five months ago by some annoying malware program. It was a whole-day nuisance for me; I remember looking through tens of anti-malware programs to identify the cure. Eventually I cleaned it up, but it was a wasted day of my life. Or perhaps it wasn't - because I learned a lot more than before about protecting my computer from hackers.

Take a look at the CNET article for some tips on what to do to protect your computer. I will later post my own (hard-earned) thoughts on how to protect yourself from malware and trojans.