Conficker Eye Chart

Joe Stewart over at SecureWorks has a brilliant visual tool to help users determine if they might be infected with Conficker or one of the primary variants.

When I saw this handy chart, the first thing I thought was, "This thing is so transparently easy that my mother-in-law could use it!"

That's not meant as a snarky retort, because I love my mother-in-law, but rather as a high-five to a concept security professionals often overlook - making our tools user friendly to achieve the best possible saturation and use.

Lots of companies have put out scanning and assessment tools for Conficker, which work great for those users with a modicum of technical savvy. Sadly, the users probably compromised by Conficker struggle with such basics as patching, antivirus, secure browser configuration, and so on, so these scanning tools might be daunting to the very users who need help most.

Everyone is familiar with the eye chart, in both concept and execution. This device makes security assessment, albeit rudimentary, user-friendly and acceptable. I might not fix the user's problem, but it will give them enough information to know they need to take a next step.

Like call their son-in-law.

Conficker Eye Chart