# Conficker impact? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 31, 2009, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conficker-impact/491495 "2009-03-31T20:52:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conficker-impact/491495/1 "2009-03-31T20:52:21Z")
It’s now April 1 in many parts of the world. Has [Conficker](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conficker) had any impact? I haven’t seen anything from the news outlets. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conficker-impact/491495/2 "2009-03-31T20:57:26Z")
> [@toadspittle](#): > > I haven’t seen anything from the news outlets. And you won’t, because Conficker is now in control of all means of communication. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conficker-impact/491495/3 "2009-03-31T21:01:40Z")
?uoY .sgniht fo dne ym no stceffe lli yna eciton ot mees t’nod I ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conficker-impact/491495/4 "2009-03-31T21:05:14Z")
˙ʇǝʎ ǝɹǝɥ ʇs1 lıɹdɐ ʇou s,ʇı uǝɥʇ ʇnq ˙ǝɹǝɥ lɐɯɹou s,ƃuıɥʇʎɹǝʌǝ ---
**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conficker-impact/491495/5 "2009-03-31T23:19:52Z")
Who knows. The only thing that happens on April 1st is that it downloads instructions and/or payload. Supposedly an earlier variant tried to download a file called avinstall.exe or something like that. This suggests the authors just want to install something like Antivirus2009 on PCs so they can collect 30 dollars a head from false virus warnings. There’s a free conflicker network scanner detector available now: [http://www.doxpara.com/](http://www.doxpara.com/) If youre an admin or responsible for a network of computers you should probably run it against all your IPs. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Duality](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.duality/32/4098_2.png) [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conficker-impact/491495/6 "2009-03-31T23:57:37Z")
I got a free removal tool at ZDnet. It said “Conficker not found.” I must be lucky. I was certainly fortunate to not be drinking anything when I saw posts 2, 3 and 4. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conficker-impact/491495/7 "2009-04-01T00:54:18Z")
Everything fuck is fuck fine fuck here fuck, too fuck. ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conficker-impact/491495/8 "2009-04-01T11:52:14Z")
remember that the media hype for Conficker is pretty high. The malware is calling back to it’s servers on April 1. It has already done this several times. As far as the published reports go, April 1 isn’t any different (famous last words…). It just happens to be the first callback date after the media finally discovered the story. The malware is out there to make money, it isn’t going to kill it’s host.