Gadgets and gizmos

Despite living in an age where Internet Security and computer security has never been tighter it has been revealed that a new Windows worm virus has hit a staggering 8.9 million PCs in the last week alone. Initial estimates suggested just 2.4 million machines had been infected but this has increased to 8.9 million over the last four days. The rate at which the virus is infecting machines has beaten all records of recent times and security firms are fighting to contain the spread.

The worm consists of a traditional Trojan package which allows the controller to download files onto your server and your machine but rather bizarrely the code also generate hundreds of random domain names and asks your machine to search them for updates. This operation not only leaves your machine open to external influences but will also use massive system resources and grind your computer to a halt.

Security experts suggest blocking all incoming and outgoing traffic on “port 445” until the rogue code is identified and deleted. We should begin to see the infection rate slowdown as Microsoft issued a security patch for the identified vulnerability in October 2008. However, by the time this Microsoft update is executed it may be too late for many machines where the damage may already have been done.