Conficker virus: one day to go

Concerns have been raised that hackers could take advantage of more
than 15 million computers that have been infected with the virus.

The
latest version of the virus has been programmed to instruct infected
computers to carry out a particular act on April 1, although internet
experts have been unable to determine what.

It is still not known whether the perceived threat posed by the
virus, variously known as Conficker, Downadup, and Kido, will actually
turn out to be the biggest ever internet April Fool's joke.

The
virus buries itself deep inside a PC's Windows operating system, from
where it can be used by hackers to steal users' passwords and personal
information, including bank details.

It sets up files and
starts downloading information from a controlling server, and infected
PCs then form a network and can "talk" to each other, updating and
evolving.

Experts believe that from midnight on April 1, the
Conficker program will start scanning thousands of websites for a new
set of instructions telling it what to do next.

If they were
told to simultaneously connect to a single website, the network of
infected "robot computers" could knock it offline by deluging it with
hits.

These so-called Botnets have been used in the past to
generate millions of pieces of spam email and to blackmail websites by
threatening to temporarily knock them out.

Graham Cluley, an
analyst with internet security company Sophos, told the Guardian that
it was difficult to predict what havoc the virus would bring on
Wednesday.

He said: "It's a brave man who puts his neck out like
that. For what it's worth, we have never seen earlier versions of the
Conficker worm downloading a malicious payload."

He added that
the April Fool's Day deadline could be an attempt to misdirect the
attention of security professionals and computer users – or that the
activation date could even indicate a prank.

He said: "There is
no reason to believe that there will be any instructions for Conficker
to receive on 1 April," he said. "They could just as easily be
delivered on 2 April, 4 April, 25 May or never."

Fresh fears over
Conficker were raised last week after it was discovered that the Houses
of Parliament IT system had become infected with the worm virus.

The virus first emerged in November which led to Microsoft releasing several patches and updates to defend against infection.

A
second, more aggressive strain followed in December and a third this
month. This last strain is reported to contain the April 1 trigger.

To
avoid infection, Windows users must download a special free update
"patch" from the Microsoft website in addition to antivirus software.

Microsoft,
which developed the Windows computer operating system, has offered a
$250,000 (£172,000) reward for information that leads to the capture
and conviction of the authors of Conficker.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/5079902/Conficker-virus-one-day-to-go.html