60 Minute Coverage of Conficker Worm Misses the Boat
Posted by Sandy Berger on March 29th, 2009
I just watched the CBS 60 Minute show coverage of the Conficker worm. It was poised to scare people out of their minds. It also played like a commercial for Symantec antivirus software. Leslie Stahl interviewed people from Symantec and Google, but never even once indicated the the worm could be stopped from spreading and/or entering your computer by simply applying a Microsoft Windows update.
The Microsoft patch was issued in October 2008, before the worm appeared. So if you did the regular Windows updates, as you should have, you wouldn’t have to worry about Conficker. The problem is that it is estimated that 30% of the active computers in the world have not yet installed this free patch from Microsoft. These are the computers that have been and are still getting infected by Conficker.
Conficker also spreads by USB flash drives and by cracking network passwords and this television coverage made no mention of that.
I also encourage everyone to install a good antivirus software, but installing the Windows updates in a timely manner is just as important as using antivirus software.
Yes, Conficker is a very smartly written worm and it employs some new techniques that are posing real headaches for security companies. Yes, it is potentially very dangerous. But why not tell people how they can avoid it. I can’t believe that with all the IT people that CBS employs, they couldn’t do a better story than this!! But then, they also said that the CBS computer network had become infected by Conficker. Perhaps they are simply that stupid!!
Read more of my Conficker coverage:
The Conficker Worm — Make Sure You Are Protected
Keep Conficker Away – Scan USB Devices Automatically
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Thank you Sandy, especially for the last sentence in your article. Such “hysteria mongering” has always seemed to be the intent of 60 Minutes. They have always seemed more interested in trying to keep up ratings and advertising revenue than in publishing the TRUTH. How many times have they been caught in out-right lies and deceit and yet continue with stories such as this terribly reported Conficker news story?
When my wife was finally calmed down and reassured that we were well protected and not in danger of financial disaster, with a simple explanation of the steps to protection that I took from the Windows Updates and more, she was stunned that 60 Minutes would not broadcast the full story. Welcome to the further liberalization of the media.
The printed news media is in dire condition, partly due to errant reporting practices of some major metro publications, and the televised media is quickly heading in that direction. Thank goodness for the Web and the ability to easily find the truth of matters….
Great entry …. Thanks again, Al