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Downadup

Răzvan LIVINTZ

April 01, 2009

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Downadup

Downadup (a.k.a. Conficker or Kido) is not the cleverest
e-threat ever. It is just a very well-written piece of malware, highly aggressive
and resistant. The worm did not the damage other worms have done, but it has
great potential though, especially because it can update itself in a smart
manner.

The alleged “Internet Apocalypse” is nothing else than a
simple speculation. So far, the code analysis of different Downadup variants
revealed no other evidence in this respect. The only sure thing by now, other
than its high rate of infections, is that the worm was crafted for deploying
rogue security software on the compromised machines.

The rumors that media amplified are based on the
misunderstanding of an enhanced feature pertaining to the latest variant.
Downadup initial versions connected to a limited number of domains in order to
update. The current enhancement refers to the generation of 50,000 random
domains and the selection of 500 of them that it attempts to randomly connect
for the same update purposes, starting April 1st (see full
description
).

 

Still, the number of the Downadup infected machines around
the globe probably equals already that of Belgium’s
or Netherlands’
population, while Q1 infection rates reveal absolutely alarming figures, as you
can see below.

 

Top 10 Most Infected Countries

Percentile infections growth in Feb (compared to Jan)

Australia

311.62

China

287.98

Indonesia

256.58

Spain

222.73

Philippines

220.32

India

214.47

Thailand

209.08

Malaysia

183.67

Italy

137.08

France

126.51

 

Top 10 Most Infected Countries

Percentile infections growth in Mar (compared to Jan)

China

683.71

Australia

473.99

Indonesia

339.96

India

316.71

Spain

280.81

Philippines

264.00

Thailand

199.11

Malaysia

193.19

France

164.30

Italy

116.37

 

Top 10 Most Infected Countries

Percentile infections growth in Mar (compared to Feb)

China

237.42

Australia

152.11

India

147.67

Indonesia

132.50

France

129.88

Spain

126.08

Philippines

119.83

Malaysia

105.18

Thailand

95.23

Italy

84.89

 

There is only one point here: Downadup is not a toy or an
April Fools’ Day joke. It is important that you patch your OS with the latest
updates, while also installing and activating a reliable proactive security
suite. Remember to scan everything and to trust nobody!

Better safe than sorry!

P.S.: If your system has been infected, there is still hope.
Check http://www.bdtools.net/, download
the Downadup Removal Tool, follow the instructions and clean your system.
Ideally, once you eliminated Downadup from your machine, you should patch your
OS with the latest updates, install and activate an antimalware suite.

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Author


Răzvan LIVINTZ

I rediscovered "all that technical jazz" with the E-Threat Analysis Team at Bitdefender, the creator of one of the industry's most effective lines of internationally certified security software.

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