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Conficker still a threat Overtis has warned that public sector organisations need to enforce their acceptable use policies to combat existing and new malware threats. The comments come in the wake of the latest Conficker infection suffered by Greater Manchester Police force between 29th January and 3rd February. Conficker is a worm that rapidly spreads around networks and is suspected of being used to create a global botnet. It was first unleashed in November 2008, when several variants were released by malware coders in an effort to avoid detection by standard anti-virus products. Widespread infections of NHS, military and naval networks cost the UK public sector millions of pounds in downtime and IT consultancy fees and it is estimated that 15 to 20million PCs may have been infected worldwide. It is suspected that the Conficker attack was caused by a member of staff plugging an infected USB stick into a PC or laptop on the Greater Manchester Police force network. As a result the force was compelled to disconnect from the Police National Computer network and use information from neighbouring jurisdictions for four days while the worm was isolated and removed by IT staff. Commenting on the Greater Manchester Police infection Ed Macnair, CEO, Overtis said, “This latest exploit demonstrates that the old malware is still doing the rounds and organisations must be vigilant about staff using unauthorised USB devices on PCs and laptops. It is only twelve months since Manchester Council spent £1.2million on cleaning up a Conficker infection, resulting in a ban on staff using portable USB devices on the Council‘s network. People have short memories, so it’s best to have technology in place to gently remind and if necessary enforce the rules to ensure good security across the IT environment.”

RISK-UK NEWS

Conficker still a threat

Overtis has warned that public sector organisations need to enforce their acceptable use policies to combat existing and new malware threats. The comments come in the wake of the latest Conficker infection suffered by Greater Manchester Police force between 29th January and 3rd February.

Conficker is a worm that rapidly spreads around networks and is suspected of being used to create a global botnet. It was first unleashed in November 2008, when several variants were released by malware coders in an effort to avoid detection by standard anti-virus products. Widespread infections of NHS, military and naval networks cost the UK public sector millions of pounds in downtime and IT consultancy fees and it is estimated that 15 to 20million PCs may have been infected worldwide.

It is suspected that the Conficker attack was caused by a member of staff plugging an infected USB stick into a PC or laptop on the Greater Manchester Police force network. As a result the force was compelled to disconnect from the Police National Computer network and use information from neighbouring jurisdictions for four days while the worm was isolated and removed by IT staff.

Commenting on the Greater Manchester Police infection Ed Macnair, CEO, Overtis said, “This latest exploit demonstrates that the old malware is still doing the rounds and organisations must be vigilant about staff using unauthorised USB devices on PCs and laptops. It is only twelve months since Manchester Council spent £1.2million on cleaning up a Conficker infection, resulting in a ban on staff using portable USB devices on the Council‘s network. People have short memories, so it’s best to have technology in place to gently remind and if necessary enforce the rules to ensure good security across the IT environment.”

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