Conficker computer virus to take new turn on April Fool’s day

Computer security experts are warning that the Conficker computer virus, which is believed to have infected at least nine million PCs in the last few months, is set to spring to life in a new way on 1 April – April Fool’s day.

The virus, which has become a big enough problem so that Microsoft has offered a $US250,000 bounty for the capture of its creators, is now in its fourth iteration. Conficker exploits a problem in Microsoft’s Windows operating system, although the software giant released a patch for Windows users last October.

The virus, also known as Downadup, has hit everyone from the New Zealand Health Ministry to the Houston Justice Department.

But researchers say the virus will get an update on 1 April, causing infected computers to start “phoning home” to the virus’s creators and allowing them to issue the virus with new instructions.

But no-one seems to know exactly what these instructions will be.

Tal Golan, founder and CTO of anti-spam appliance vendor Sendio, told internet news site Datamonitor that the worm is likely to send out email containing spam or malware, which could stretch network capacity if the internet is hit with an avalanche of data.

But Richard Wang, manager of the US research division of security firm Sophos told Associated Press that the threats appear to have been over-hyped. He’s expecting a more subtle form of attack.

“It doesn’t make sense for the guys behind Conficker to cause a major network problem, because if they’re breaking parts of the internet they can’t make any money.”

One thing computer experts are united on is the need to ensure that you are protected from the virus by close of business tomorrow. Businesses should review their anti-virus protection and make sure the appropriate update to defend systems against Conficker is in place.

One SmartCompany blogger outlined a number of the steps businesses can take to defend themselves in a blog post earlier this year.

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