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This is going to be a high-risk blog entry, I know. But I'm in the UK, it's 1 April at eight minutes past ten in the morning and so far we've had no reports of mass outbreaks of the Conficker virus. The BBC was suggesting it was all overblown in a report yesterday.

This is actually quite brilliant, if it doesn't turn into a 'UK got off lightly' story (which it still could, or it could break out midday or something). Someone has not written a virus, not propogated it and then managed to disrupt and hijack a load of innocent computer users and news sites anyway. It's caused concern, insecurity and consternation whether or not it actually exists.

It's a nuisance and a pain, no doubt about that. And the Polyanna in me says it's a good thing too - a reminder that all of us including Mac users need to keep security up to date, but a warning that's not actually done any damage.

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Short, practical addendum that clarifies what actually happened and what still matters.

What and noticed is correct: April 1, 2009 passed without a visible, headline-grabbing "botnet apocalypse." That does not mean Conficker was a hoax. Conficker (aka Downadup/Kido) had already infected millions of Windows machines and represented a real, long‑running botnet problem — the lack of a single catastrophic event reflected mitigation, not absence of threat. (theguardian.com)

Why the feared April‑1 activation didn’t explode into chaos: the security community formed a coordinated response (the Conficker Working Group), and registries/ICANN cooperated to pre‑register or block many of the domains Conficker’s domain‑generation algorithm would have used. That collective, proactive work reduced the worm’s ability to get new instructions from its operators. It bought time but did not magically “clean” millions of infected hosts. ()

Technical reminder for context: Conficker spread by exploiting the MS08‑067 RPC vulnerability and by guessing weak administrator passwords and using removable media; later variants used a daily domain list and P2P updates to make take‑down harder. Those vectors explain both the initial rapid spread and the worm’s persistence. (learn.microsoft.com)

Actionable checklist for readers stumbling on this thread years later:

  • Confirm every Windows machine has the MS08‑067 patch (and is fully updated).
  • Disable AutoRun/AutoPlay for removable media.
  • Run up‑to‑date antivirus + Microsoft’s removal/Safety Scanner tools and isolate suspected machines from the network while cleaning.
  • Change local/administrator passwords and look for unusual services, scheduled tasks or network traffic to suspicious domains.
    Follow current vendor and CISA/US‑CERT guidance and tools for detection/removal — Conficker still appears occasionally on unpatched systems, so these steps remain relevant. (support.microsoft.com)
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