The Conficker Worm is set to do something tomorrow on April 1st. The Conficker.C worm is a serious threat that has triggered the security community to form the Conficker Working Group.
Researcher Felix Leder and Tillmann Werner from the Werner Honeynet Project published a last minute white paper titled Know Your Enemy: Containing Conficker.

They found a new way to detect the Conficker Worm on computers remotely. Tools for administrators are available now to scan their networks for infected computers.
Conficker changes apparently how Windows appears on the network. The scanning tools available now are using this effect to indentify infected systems. The tool is being integrated into most vulnerability scanning tools, including Tenable Nessus, McAfee, nCircle and the widely popular open source nMap.

On the eve of Conficker.C's expected activation date, April 1, more than 100 providers of top-level domains around the world are trying to block the registration of tens of thousands of domain names that the Conficker worm could start using Wednesday to get botnet instructions.

That effort started last February when the industry group, which included ICANN and Microsoft, got together to pull together a united front against the scourge of Conficker, a sophisticated piece of malware infecting millions of Windows-based computers around the world. It's called the Conficker Working Group.

Starting Wedneday, Conficker could be activated to scan for about 50,000 domain names per day -- a different 50,000 names each day for months -- in a process security experts believe is intended to allow the worm to locate instructions for downloads or destructive operations. It's suspected that most of the domain names are a cover to hide the real points of botnet control.

The idea is for the Top-Level Domain (TLD) providers to do what they can to block the registration of the tens of thousands of domain names Conficker appears programmed to search for. It's a process that those involved in say has been ongoing --though may not ultimately be successful.

"This is a case of the weakest link," acknowledges Roland LaPlante, senior vice president of Afilias, the registry operator that provides technical services to 15 TLDs including .info and .org. but also .Asia, along with BZ for Belize and .IN for India -- a total of about 14 million domains.

LaPlante says ICANN has been trying to coordinate the TLD providers around the world to block registration of the Conficker worm's programmed domain names, but it appears less than half of the TLDs are actively cooperating. Sometimes it's simply that there are small TLDs around the world run by one person who may not even answer the phone. He notes that the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has very limited authority to compel actions.

Afilias has blocked more than 300,000 names so far in the domains that it supports, and expects to block more than 1 million over the course of the year. Greg Aaron, director of domain security at Afilias, says most of the domain names in Conficker's scanning mechanism appear to be random combinations of letters.

Attempts at registering Conficker names are viewed as suspicious and referred to law enforcement, Afilias says.

So, while an attempt is being made to block Conficker's preferred domain names, the effort may not work if Conficker's creators find a willing source from somewhere in the world to supply domain names they want. 

Meet Regina Lasko, the long-time girlfriend of David Letterman. The rumor is they are secretly married.

 Letterman has fully reconciled his feud with Oprah Winfrey as a recent appearance attests. On the show, he discussed Regina Lasko and their young 3-year old son Harry who was almost kidnapped in an extortion attempt.

 

Regina became David Letterman’s girlfriend in 1989 and moved in with him in 2001. The couple are madly in love and live in North Salem, New York.

Lasko is formerly a production manager and colleague in show business. She has light brown hair and an average build. He does not like to talk about her. Once on the Letterman show while grilling Demi Moore about her latest romance, she turned the tables on him prying into his personal life with Regina Lasko. He squirmed and said “”Nobody cares. I feel like I’ve been punk’d”

Broderick Steven "Steve" Harvey (born January 17, 1956) is an American comedian, actor, entertainer, and radio personality. Best known as the star of the WB sitcom The Steve Harvey Show, and as one of the four comedians featured in the Spike Lee film The Original Kings of Comedy. Currently, he is the host of The Steve Harvey Morning Show, a nationally syndicated radio program.

Since the Steve Harvey Morning Show launched into national syndication with Premiere Radio Networks in 2005, its audience has grown 325% in the 25-54 demo.

It has also grown 350% in the 18-49 demo, per Arbitron. Harvey is heard on more than 60 stations with almost 7 million weekly listeners, according to Clear Channel. The Steve Harvey Morning Show is the No. 1 rated syndicated morning show in the top 50 metro markets with the Persons 18-34, 18-49, and Women 25-54 demos.

Harvey’s new book, Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man, may propel more traffic to his radio show: the book will debut at No. 1 on the New York Times Best-Seller list this week. He has been interviewed on The Early Show, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and CNN in recent weeks, and he has upcoming appearances on Ellen, CNN Newsroom, and The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet.

In the book, Harvey provides women with the “ultimate guide for dealing with men on their terms.” courtesy-mediabuyerplanne r