Conficker

They just manifest a little different.

So many years ago, there was a worm that got out called Conficker.

I don't know if you heard that one or not.

Didn't do anything, but it infected a lot of systems.

But the one that really comes to the top of my mind all the time is a case or an incident that I was very fortunate to be part of back in around 2010 period.

There was this infamous worm back then called Conficker.

Worm.

Yeah.

Uh, Sasser exploited a vulnerability in L-A, in LSASS, LSASS.

Conficker exploited the Windows Server service vulnerability addressed by MS-08-067.

In each of those examples, however, Microsoft had released a security update before the major worm outbreak occurred.

An exploit is the code, data, or technique used to take advantage of a vu- vulnerability.

You've had zero days to prepare.

A zero day exploit is an exploit taking advantage of such a previously unknown or unpatched vulnerability.

That creates a very different defensive situation from something like Conficker.

With Conficker, administrators could...

I'm sweating just thinking about it.

Well, the historical trauma of fast-spreading worms, things like Conficker or NotPetya, that makes the concept of a self-spreading agent inherently terrifying.

But InfectionMonkey is architected with strict, configurable throttling mechanisms.

Okay, so it's not just running wild.

There's human lives at stake.

I know for me, one of, one of my big turning points was the Conficker worm.

For those who remember Conficker, it was spreading as a IT piece of malware, but it got into hospital systems and quickly got into MRI machines and X-ray machines.

Didn't kill anybody, didn't cause any, any damage, but it really opened up a lot of people's eyes that these things, you know, can cross over these boundaries very quickly.

And then, of course, the ransomware attacks maybe 10 years back or so, we started seeing ransomware get into control centers, and, uh, WannaCry was probably the best example of that, where we, we see WannaCry appearing in various control centers.