Experts Suspect Politics in Root of Conficker

As per the news published by govinfosecurity in the last week of August 2009, security researchers studying the Conficker worm seem to have different viewpoints about the main purpose behind the development of Conficker worm. Some among them suspect that the approach behind developing Conficker might not be criminal. Rather, they think that the worm might have been designed by a nation's military or an intelligence agency to disable enemy's computers or to spy them.

Experts also opine that the authors of Conficker are professionals who can exploit even the most advanced technology. According to them, internal defense mechanisms protect the program, thereby making it difficult to be removed. The program can even destroy or hide from programs that are designed to detect botnets.

One of the members of the security team said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation already had doubts but was slowly progressing in that direction, as it required build and strengthen relations with the law enforcement agencies in the nations which are allegedly the homes to these suspects, reported by govinfosecurity in the last week of August, 2009.

According to the security experts, the probability of Conficker's creation by a foreign government as a spying weapon further highlights the need of collaboration in the field of cyber security.

Else, the result would be mass destruction. For instance, the networks of botnets, or infected computers, were extensively used as weapons in conflicts that took place in Estonia (in 2007), and Georgia (in 2008). The most recent examples are the attacks against the US and South Korean government agencies. Some security experts believe that these assaults which temporarily affected Facebook and Twitter had a political tinge.

Meanwhile, Conficker swiftly rolled over the Internet for the first time in 2008. It makes use of the vulnerabilities in Windows software to capture the machines and then connect them to a virtual computer, so that its authors can remotely control the functions. As of now, it is exercising its control on more than five million zombies in over 200 countries. This virtual computer possesses immense potential that can dwarf even the largest data centers of the world. So, if this worm strikes, it is bound to create havoc on the Internet.

Related article: Experts Find Two Vulnerabilities in Firefox

» SPAMfighter News - 10/1/2009