Windows PC's Being Turned to Junk Email Bots By Conficker

After a disappointing "launch" on April 1, 2009, Conficker has finally started spreading and is now turning infected Windows PC's into junk mail robots, sending out an estimated 80,000 junk emails in 24 hours.

Kaspersky researcher Alex Gostev said in a message on Friday "Assuming that there are 5 million infected machines out there, the [Conficker] botnet could send out about 400 billion spam messages over a 24-hour period!"

The spam in question is pitching pharmaceuticals only now primarily for erectile dysfunction medications such as Viagra and Cialis, with message subject headings including "She will dream of you days and nights!" and "Hot life -- our help here. Ensure your potence [sic] today!"

Gostev also noted that almost every message contained a unique domain in the embedded link, a tactic spammers sometimes use to side-step anti-spam filters, which analyze the frequency which any one domain is used. "We detected the use of 40,542 third-level domains and 33 second-level domains," said Gostev. "They all belonged to spammers and the companies that ordered these mailings."

It has been noted that some Conficker bots have also downloaded and installed Spyware Protect 2009 which falls under the same guidelines as the infamous Antivirus XP, Antivirus 2008/2009, Antivirus Vista and Antivirus 360 (which we have previously reported on!). In the industry, these are known as "scareware" and attempt to dupe the end user into trying to purchase the software by reporting false scan results which often indicate the computer has thousands of infections.

It is obvious that with the spread of Conficker, we will also see a rise in the number of malware infected computers as well . Affordable Computer Tech Solutions has been cleaning the Antivirus series of malware from computers since 2008 and has developed a system to completely remove the malware, along with another other viruses, which is non-invasive and will not cause you to lose any of your personal files provided the infection hasn't spread to the point of no return.

If you feel your computer might be infected then our best advise is to shut it off and contact us to schedule service. We offer drop off, in home and in some cases even remote service. Drop off service is just $60, in home service is $80 and remote access (provided you can still get online) is only $40. Call (480) 273-5669 to schedule service.