Pakistani internet users hit by Confiker virus

This report comes from, The Nation

Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited (PTCL) Friday warned Pakistani internet users of a virus attack saying majority of the Pakistani internet users have been hit by the Confiker worm like other countries of the world.

Senior Executive Vice President, (Commercial) PTCL Dr Sadik Al-Jadir said the virus had slowed down the internet speed available to the PTCL internet users. “The remedy is to update your system with the new anti-virus on a regular basis.

The computer virus known as Confiker worm has attacked the common operating systems around the world, reportedly affecting millions of computers,” he added.

The affected computers experience issues like slow browsing and no browsing. The virus also restricts access to websites that can help in the removal of the software. The virus, however, failed to break through the computers being regularly updated with the latest updates of Windows operating systems and Anti Virus.

Dr Sadik Al-Jadir further said majority of internet and broadband users in Pakistan have been affected by this virus attack, and are facing slow browsing or no browsing.

Among these, many PTCL customers are facing this problem and are calling 1218 to reach Technical Support.

The PTCL technical support is assisting customers by guiding them to update their operating systems and anti virus and the required patches are also made available on PTCL website www.ptcl.com.pk where customers can download the patch files and configuration guidelines.

Dr Sadik Al-Jadir informed that the incoming calls on 1218 Broadband Technical Support Helpline increased by 4 times starting April 1.

He offered apology on behalf of the company to those customers who had faced difficulties in getting through the technical support representatives because of this unexpected call traffic.

The PTCL has increased the number of representatives, overnight, and has taken all necessary measures to overcome the situation due to the virus attack.
He added that all PTCL landlines are pre-activated to use 100 hours of free dial-up time from 7:00 am to 10:00 pm, and the usage is totally free from 10:00 pm to 7:00 am.

Any PTCL landline customer can access internet using free Phone n Net dial-up service. Customers will need to dial 131 77777 with username ptcl and password ptcl

Here is the link to the original story: Virus