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April 1, 2009

Conficker Naming: A Virus Named to... Screw with Your Computer

Today might see one of the greatest internet April Fools' jokes ever played out as we all await the wrath of the Conficker virus, which as I write this might be turning millions of PCs into malicious bots and wreaking havoc on the web.

Conficker has already earned the title of the "Paris Hilton" of botnets because it has aroused so much interest despite really having no more substance than other less well known viruses.

The actual name could be a rearrangement of the domain name trafficconverter.biz, which is where the worm came from in the first place.

But from a linguistic perspective, I think the name may be a Portmanteau. Conficker appears to combine the German verb "ficken," meaning to fornicate, with "con," the Latin root for "with." When combined, the name strongly suggests that this virus really f**ks with your computer.

The Daily Muse says: Conficker: Nightmare Be Thy Name, and if this thing lives up to its name, today may spell trouble for anyone courageous enough to cruise the Internet.

One thing that Conficker does for sure is violate accepted virus naming conventions. These were put into place back in 1991 by the Computer AntiVirus Researcher Organization that divides a name into the following:

• Family_Name.Group_Name.Major_Variant.Minor_Variant[:Modifier].

Still, thousands of viruses disregard naming conventions and there really are no accepted standards in place.

This is what happens when Virus naming is left to chance. The public simply selects the name that is easiest to remember. This means that viruses like Bugbear also get names like Tantos, and software is sold to kill both.

However, ten years ago, the same virus may have had 25 or more names. Now, the naming rights go to the anti-virus company that discovers the wretched thing, and never to the evil genius who invented it.

There also might be confusion as to whether the thing is a worm or a virus.

Right now, the name virus is a generic term "that includes all the malicious ways your computer can be attacked." But there is in fact a difference between a virus and a worm.

A virus gets into your computer via hardware or software and attaches itself to program files.

A worm does not need to attach itself to a program to function and attacks networks rather than local files.

Whether this thing is a worm, a virus, or an April fools' hoax, let's all hope that it doesn't live up to its name.

Technorati Tags: Virus, Virus Naming, Conficker, April Fools, Portmanteau, Virus Names

Posted by Diane Prange at April 1, 2009 11:14 AM
Posted to Industry | Linguistics | Naming | Technology

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