.UK and .CA Registries Prepare for Conficker C Worm

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As we reported yesterday, the Conficker C worm (AKA "Conflicker") is set to reappear on April Fools Day, and with a vengeance.

The Conficker C worm is expected to wreak havoc, with the BBC reporting that the new strain will randomly select 500 domain servers each day from a pool of 50,000.

Nominet, the registry operator for the .UK TLD, stated in an e-mail that they will implement a temporary extra step in the domain registration process:

“As of today, it is possible that a very small number of new domain name registrations will be manually referred. In such cases registrars will not be prevented from registering the domain name, but may experience a short delay before the registration is accepted.

Although this measure will only affect a low volume of domain names we wanted to ensure that registrars are aware of the extra security step we are taking in this instance.”

Also, CIRA - the operator of the .CA registry - also announced that it will take extra measures to counter the Conficker C worm:

“CIRA has put in place a plan to counter this potential misuse of the dot-ca registry and to maintain its integrity as one of the most secure and robust domains in the world…

…CIRA’s efforts include pre-emptively registering and isolating previously unregistered dot-ca domain names expected to be generated over the next 12 months by Conficker C. This move, which covers the vast majority of affected names during that period, will prevent registration of those domains by undesirable actors. In the small number of cases where the domain name has already been registered, CIRA will actively investigate and monitor activities at those domains and take appropriate action if suspicious activity is detected.”

Experts are unsure as to what the April 1 virus has in mind this time around.

Microsoft has promised a $250,000 bounty in exchange for the capture of the worm’s creator and there is a group of security researchers, “the Conficker Cabal”, trying to put an end to the worm, although they haven't had any success yet.

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