Hospital Equipment Infected with Conficker
Recently, the Conficker/Downadup worm infected several hundred machines and critical medical equipment in an undisclosed number of U.S. hospitals.
The attacks were not widespread; however, Marcus Sachs, director of the SANS Internet Storm Center, told CNET News that it raises the awareness of what we would do if there were millions of computers infected in hospitals or in critical infrastructure locations.
It's not clear how the devices (including heart monitors, MRI machines and PCs) got infected. Infected computers were running Windows NT and Windows 2000 in a local area network (LAN) that wasn't supposed to be Internet accessible, but the LAN was connected to one with direct Internet access. (Source: cnet.com)
A patch was released by Microsoft last October by November that fixes the problem, but the computers infected were reportedly too old to be patched.
U.K. Hospitals Infected with Conficker in January
This past January, The Register U.K. reported that hospitals in Sheffield were found to be infected with the Conficker/Downadup worm.
The infections illustrate dangers that can arise from connecting critical networks, such as those in hospitals and in SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems used by utility companies and other critical infrastructure providers that are networked and configured to connect to the Internet.
For years SCADA systems were separated from public networks, but not anymore. More utility companies use remote access and other Internet-based technologies to give their workers access to the control systems when they're not in the plant to cut costs.
So far no evidence of compromised computers leading to a disruption of service has been found, but the potential exists.
Texas Dept of Public Safety Computers Infected
A recent report from SpamFighter.com says that the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) was also infected by the Conficker/Downadup worm on April 17, 2009. (Source: spamfighter.com)
The infection prevented approximately 2,000 state troopers from sending emails from their DPS computers and disrupted the issuance of Texas drivers licenses. The attack seemed to have affected DPS computers state wide.
Estimated Economic Cost of Conficker: $9.1 billion
A recent report from the Cyber Secure Institute claims that the economic loss due to the Conficker/Downadup worm could be as high as $9.1 billion based on their previous studies into the average cost of such malware attacks. (Source: zdnet.com)
That estimate may actually be low, since it considered only a limited infection rate (200,000 infected hosts) and the Conficker/Downadup worm is still active. The most recent estimate of computers infected with the Conficker/Downadup worm is 3.5 million.
Visit Bill's Links and More for more great tips, just like this one!
Most popular articles
- Which Processor is Better: Intel or AMD? - Explained
- How to Prevent Ransomware in 2018 - 10 Steps
- 5 Best Anti Ransomware Software Free
- How to Fix: Computer / Network Infected with Ransomware (10 Steps)
- How to Fix: Your Computer is Infected, Call This Number (Scam)
- Scammed by Informatico Experts? Here's What to Do
- Scammed by Smart PC Experts? Here's What to Do
- Scammed by Right PC Experts? Here's What to Do
- Scammed by PC / Web Network Experts? Here's What to Do
- How to Fix: Windows Update Won't Update
- Explained: Do I need a VPN? Are VPNs Safe for Online Banking?
- Explained: VPN vs Proxy; What's the Difference?
- Explained: Difference Between VPN Server and VPN (Service)
- Forgot Password? How to: Reset Any Password: Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10
- How to: Use a Firewall to Block Full Screen Ads on Android
- Explained: Absolute Best way to Limit Data on Android
- Explained: Difference Between Dark Web, Deep Net, Darknet and More
- Explained: If I Reset Windows 10 will it Remove Malware?
![](/graphics/dennisfaas.jpg)
My name is Dennis Faas and I am a senior systems administrator and IT technical analyst specializing in cyber crimes (sextortion / blackmail / tech support scams) with over 20 years experience; I also run this website! If you need technical assistance , I can help. Click here to email me now; optionally, you can review my resume here. You can also read how I can fix your computer over the Internet (also includes user reviews).
We are BBB Accredited
![](https://www.infopackets.com/graphics/bbb.png)
We are BBB accredited (A+ rating), celebrating 21 years of excellence! Click to view our rating on the BBB.