Fergie's Tech Blog

OpenDNS to Step Up Fight Against Conficker Worm

Robert Westervelt writes on SearchSecurity:

OpenDNS is stepping up the battle against the Microsoft Conficker/Downadup worm, with a new service launching next week that predicts the worm's command and control domains and ultimately blocks them, rendering the worm useless.

The service relies on researchers from antivirus vendor Kaspersky Lab, who have dissected the worm's domain algorithm, and can predict which domains the worm will use to get its orders. Kaspersky will pass the information on to OpenDNS, which will update its servers and bulk block the domains, said David Ulevitch, founder and chief technology officer of OpenDNS.

"We'll be able to effectively cut the worm off at its knees," Ulevitch said. "Infected machines will not be able to phone home, and without being able to phone home the worm is dead in the water."

posted by Fergie @ 2/06/2009 02:09:00 PM