Conficker Must Serve as a Wake-Up Call on the Issue of Computer Viruses

If you have heard of this "Conficker" virus you are not alone. Conficker is a deadly computer virus that has affected millions of Microsoft Windows-based computers worldwide. At the time I am writing this it is March 31, 2009, tomorrow (April Fool's Day, no doubt chosen because of the sickness of the mind of whoever created this) the virus is due to release. Nobody knows totally for sure what it does. It could be nothing. It could be awful. Today I was listening to the radio and I heard reports that this virus has worried people so much that it has grounded a fleet of French fighter jets.

Now it would be easy to suspect one of the better-known terrorist groups for creating this bug, but I don't think it is. At least they have a cause, even if I vehemently oppose it. The creator or creators of Conficker have no cause and have simply chosen to launch this virus for purely malicious reasons. Perhaps the creepo that is behind this thinks it is funny. The rest of the world decidedly does not. My best bet is that the creator of Conficker is a thin, white, middle-class, college graduate geek in his early 20s living in a basement somewhere. That is who has often been the culprit so many times before. It may sound like I am stereotyping but when I imagine a hacker or virus creator it is the image that comes to mind. I may be wrong and it may be more sinister. I've even joked that Apple Computers created the virus in order to hurt their competitor by showing just how much more virus proof their computers are (although I doubt they would actually do such a thing, but it is a funny thought).

I checked my own PC to see if there was malware or if the security system was shut down (supposed signs of Conficker). Just to be sure, I am using another Mac I have all day and am leaving the PC totally disconnected, especially from the Internet from today to midday tomorrow, until April 1 has passed all over the world. I don't know if this would work, but it is just a precaution (like I said, I don't think I even have it in the first place).

Now we've heard all about viruses and the like and we've heard about the way to be on the lookout. This virus in particular needs to serve as a wakeup call to people everywhere. It needs to send a message to Microsoft to patch all these issues with Windows, it needs to send a message to users to always be on the lookout, and above all it needs to send a message to governments to crack down on this behavior. This British man got two years for a virus. It is time for those penalties to be increased by countries worldwide. I know that you can't pass a law to fix a crime retroactively in America, but I think a decent term would be a twenty-year sentence for the creator of a virus of the magnitude of Conficker. I would encourage you all to write to your officials and urge them to pass tough laws in relation to the creation of computer viruses and set up task forces specially designed to fight these people.

Personally, I consider the creators of computer viruses like Conficker to be terrorists. They do this for purely malicious reasons in the intent of wreaking havoc on innocent people. If that isn't terrorism I don't know what is. President Obama, it is time for our Federal government to get just as serious about this threat of cyberterrorism, whether purely maliciously or for a cause, just as much as we are serious about men strapped up with bombs. It is time to declare war on computer crime. Let Conficker serve as a wakeup call to the whole technology industries, technology users, and the authorities.