The proliferation of Internet of Things devices and unsupported operating systems is leaving networks open to simple cyberattacks which, in many cases, should have already been consigned to the dustbin of history.
Conficker first emerged in 2008, exploiting flaws in Windows XP and older Microsoft operating systems to spread itself to vulnerable machines and rope them into a botnet. An estimated 15 million computers had fallen victim to Conficker by 2009 - but over ten years on, the malware remains an active threat to organisations around the world.
While this form of malware hasn't been particularly damaging – its authors are thought to have been reluctant to use the Conficker botnet after it drew so much attention – it serves as a reminder about the dangers worms and other malicious software can pose to organisations; especially as the worm remains active and hundreds of thousands of machines are thought to be infected.
In 2015, this figure stood at 400,000 machines, but according to the new Unit 42 IoT Threat Report from Palo Alto Networks, there's been a resurgence in Conficker infections, with researchers indicating that now the figure is around 500,000.
SEE: Cybersecurity in an IoT and mobile world (ZDNet special report) | Download the report as a PDF (TechRepublic)
One of the ways Conficker continues to spread is through infecting connected medical devices thanks to their use of outdated or unsupported versions ..
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