🚀 go-pugleaf

Computer Experts Unite to Hunt Worm 

March 18, 2009 

nytimes.com/2009/03/19/technology/19worm.html

An extraordinary behind-the-scenes struggle is taking place between 
computer security groups around the world and the brazen author of a 
malicious software program called Conficker.

The program grabbed global attention when it began spreading late last 
year and quickly infected millions of computers with software code that 
is intended to lash together the infected machines it controls into a 
powerful computer known as a botnet. 

Since then, the program�s author has repeatedly updated its software in 
a cat-and-mouse game being fought with an informal international 
alliance of computer security firms and a network governance group known 
as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Members 
refer to the alliance as the Conficker Cabal.

The existence of the botnet has brought together some of the world�s 
best computer security experts to prevent potential damage. The spread 
of the malicious software is on a scale that matches the worst of past 
viruses and worms, like the I Love You virus. Last month, Microsoft 
announced a $250,000 reward for information leading to the capture of 
the Conficker author.

Botnets are used to send the vast majority of e-mail spam messages. Spam 
in turn is the basis for shady commercial promotions including schemes 
that frequently involve directing unwary users to Web sites that can 
plant malicious software, or malware, on computers. 

Botnets can also be used to distribute other kinds of malware and 
generate attacks that can take commercial or government Web sites off-
line. 

One of the largest botnets tracked last year consisted of 1.5 million 
infected computers that were being used to automate the breaking of 
�captchas,� the squiggly letter tests that are used to force applicants 
for Web services to prove they are human.

The inability of the world�s best computer security technologists to 
gain the upper hand against anonymous but determined cybercriminals is 
viewed by a growing number of those involved in the fight as evidence of 
a fundamental security weakness in the global network. 

�I walked up to a three-star general on Wednesday and asked him if he 
could help me deal with a million-node botnet,� said Rick Wesson, a 
computer security researcher involved in combating Conficker. �I didn�t 
get an answer.�

An examination of the program reveals that the zombie computers are 
programmed to try to contact a control system for instructions on April 
1. There has been a range of speculation about the nature of the threat 
posed by the botnet, from a wake-up call to a devastating attack.

Researchers who have been painstakingly disassembling the Conficker code 
have not been able to determine where the author, or authors, is 
located, or whether the program is being maintained by one person or a 
group of hackers. The growing suspicion is that Conficker will 
ultimately be a computing-for-hire scheme. Researchers expect it will 
imitate the hottest fad in the computer industry, called cloud 
computing, in which companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Sun 
Microsystems sell computing as a service over the Internet.

Earlier botnets were devised so they could be split up and rented via 
black market schemes that are common in the Internet underground, 
according to security researchers.

The Conficker program is built so that after it takes up residence on 
infected computers, it can be programmed remotely by software to serve 
as a vast system for distributing spam or other malware. 

Several people who have analyzed various versions of the program said 
Conficker�s authors were obviously monitoring the efforts to restrict 
the malicious program and had repeatedly demonstrated that their skills 
were at the leading edge of computer technology. 

For example, the Conficker worm already had been through several 
versions when the alliance of computer security experts seized control 
of 250 Internet domain names the system was planning to use to forward 
instructions to millions of infected computers.

Shortly thereafter, in the first week of March, the fourth known version 
of the program, Conficker C, expanded the number of the sites it could 
use to 50,000. That step made it virtually impossible to stop the 
Conficker authors from communicating with their botnet.

�It�s worth noting that these are folks who are taking this seriously 
and not making many mistakes,� said Jose Nazario, a member of the 
international security group and a researcher at Arbor Networks, a 
company in Lexington, Mass., that provides tools for monitoring the 
performance of networks. �They�re going for broke.�

Several members of the Conficker Cabal said that law enforcement 
officials had been slow to respond to the group�s efforts, but that a 
number of law enforcement agencies were now in �listen� mode.

�We�re aware of it,� said Paul Bresson, an F.B.I. spokesman, �and we�re 
working with security companies to address the problem.� 

A report scheduled to be released Thursday by SRI International, a 
nonprofit research institute in Menlo Park, Calif., says that Conficker 
C constitutes a major rewrite of the software. Not only does it make it 
far more difficult to block communication with the program, but it gives 
the program added powers to disable many commercial antivirus programs 
as well as Microsoft�s security update features.

�Perhaps the most obvious frightening aspect of Conficker C is its clear 
potential to do harm,� said Phillip Porras, a research director at SRI 
International and one of the authors of the report. �Perhaps in the best 
case, Conficker may be used as a sustained and profitable platform for 
massive Internet fraud and theft.�

�In the worst case,� Mr. Porras said, �Conficker could be turned into a 
powerful offensive weapon for performing concerted information warfare 
attacks that could disrupt not just countries, but the Internet itself.�

The researchers, noting that the Conficker authors were using the most 
advanced computer security techniques, said the original version of the 
program contained a recent security feature developed by an M.I.T. 
computer scientist, Ron Rivest, that had been made public only weeks 
before. And when a revision was issued by Dr. Rivest�s group to correct 
a flaw, the Conficker authors revised their program to add the 
correction. 

Although there have been clues that the Conficker authors may be located 
in Eastern Europe, evidence has not been conclusive. Security 
researchers, however, said this week that they were impressed by the 
authors� productivity. 

�If you suspect this person lives in Kiev,� Mr. Nazario said, �I would 
look for someone who has recently reported repetitive stress injury 
symptoms.�