New Internet Explorer Flaw Could Result in Massive Conficker Attack

According to Roger Thompson, Chief Research Officer at AVG Technologies, the critical flaw, which Microsoft confirmed on July 6, 2009 and for which a patch is still awaited, is a key contender for yet another huge scale assault from Conficker, as reported by ComputerWorld on July 8, 2009.

Thompson says that the flaw that worries him exists in the Video Controller ActiveX Library of Microsoft and is being exploited in an attack which has already compromised numerous websites. The attack code has been included in a drive-by downloads kit that tries to load a mixture of malicious programs on visitors' systems.

The new bug is better than the flaw Conficker used as it affects the entire world and is capable of being exploited via the firewall, according to Thompson. Conficker did its destruction mostly after it penetrated a network.

The Conficker virus, which burst into prominence in January 2009, exploited a Windows vulnerability which Microsoft had already patched as part of an emergency update. Further, the malware compromised numerous computers that peaked to 12 Million at a certain time, and then formed a gigantic botnet out of those computers to disseminate malicious software, send vast spam volumes or install bogus anti-virus software.

Thompson also reveals that he is confident that the conmen are busy in getting the latest bug within their attack kits. For people who used Conficker, the bug could be a successive malware to exploit. They will wait till an effective exploit is found and then mix it with some clever ruses just as they did with Conficker, Thompson explains.

He further states that the new bug is a fine attack code having a huge number of vulnerable users, chiefly because it doesn't still have a patch. When Conficker made its debut, the vulnerability it exploited had already been patched. It is, however, a different issue that the patch hadn't been installed on numerous computers.

Finally, Thompson comments that he wouldn't be astonished to find the next version of Conficker with the new IE flaw, which appears tailor-made.

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» SPAMfighter News - 7/18/2009