OpenDNS, provider of the award-winning service that makes the Internet safer, faster, smarter and more reliable, today announced it has teamed with leading antivirus company Kaspersky Lab to fight the wide-spread Conficker virus. The effort to fight Conficker uses the newly introduced OpenDNS Botnet Protection feature, which provides network administrators visibility into the networks they operate and sends notification if the Conficker Windows worm has successfully penetrated their network.
"Despite not introducing any technological innovation, the Conflicker/Kido worm is regarded to be one of the most dangerous IT threats at the moment," said Vitaly Kamluk, Head of Antibotnet Research, Kaspersky Lab. "The worm was supposedly propagated via an existing botnet -- this shows how dangerous the integration of two different malicious technologies might be. Speed of reaction in such cases is very important. We are open to all the communities and services that may help here. OpenDNS is one of the leading free and secure online services and we are happy that in this joint effort we can protect OpenDNS users as well."
OpenDNS Botnet Protection, as well as its use to fight the Conficker virus, represents a key innovation in the use of the Domain Name System. Conficker, also known as Downadup, uses a set of seemingly random domain names as a meeting place for the virus to exchange data with its author, such as how many new machines each host has brought into the botnet, or details on any code upgrades or attacks the owner wants to take place. These domain names are generated using an algorithm so they change every day, making traditional methods like revoking domain registrations used by botnet authors ineffective.
Kaspersky Lab has taken steps to preemptively predict the domains that will be used in coming days by the virus, and is collaborating with OpenDNS by sharing the predicted domains. OpenDNS Botnet Protection then blocks the domains from resolving inside the OpenDNS service, for all OpenDNS users. Consequently, OpenDNS Botnet Protection prevents the virus from taking part in any further actions at the instruction of the virus author, and effectively prevents the virus from causing additional damage and alerts networking administrators of malware living on their network.
About OpenDNS
OpenDNS is the leading provider of free security and infrastructure services that make the Internet safer through integrated Web content filtering, anti-phishing and DNS. OpenDNS services enable consumers and network administrators to secure their networks from online threats, reduce costs and enforce Internet-use policies. OpenDNS is used today by millions of users and organizations around the world. For more information about OpenDNS, please visit www.opendns.com
About Kaspersky Lab
Kaspersky Lab delivers the world's most immediate protection against IT security threats, including viruses, spyware, crimeware, hackers, phishing and spam. Kaspersky Lab products provide superior detection rates and the industry's fastest outbreak response time for large enterprises, SMBs, home users and the mobile computing environment. KasperskyŽ technology is also used worldwide inside the products and services of more than 100 of the industry's leading IT security solution providers. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com . For the latest on antivirus, anti-spyware, anti-spam and other IT security issues and trends, visit www.viruslist.com |
