Podcast: Conficker worm dissected
Trend Micro's David Perry discusses the Conficker worm, which is scheduled to kick in on Wednesday.
Larry Magid
Larry Magid is a technology journalist and an Internet safety advocate. He's been writing and speaking about Internet safety since he wrote Internet safety guide "Child Safety on the Information Highway" in 1994. He is co-director of ConnectSafely.org, founder of SafeKids.com and SafeTeens.com, and a board member of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Larry's technology analysis and commentary can be heard on CBS News and CBS affiliates, and read on CBSNews.com. He also writes a personal-tech column for the San Jose Mercury News. You can e-mail Larry.
Millions of computers worldwide have already been infected with the Conficker worm.
So far, it hasn't done any major damage, but it is replicating itself. And on Wednesday, it's apparently programmed to "phone home," possibly getting instructions from some master computer to start causing real problems.
Most experts don't expect anything dramatic on Wednesday, but Windows users are being advised to make sure to apply the latest Microsoft security patch and to be sure they're using up-to-date antivirus software. In this podcast, I discuss the worm with David Perry, education director of Internet security company Trend Micro.