Countdown to Conficker worm activation
The Conficker worm that has been infecting machine with one of several variations just recently is due to go active on 1st of April this year. The Conficker C variant, believed to have infected between 3 and 12 million PC globally, will begin broadcasting for new instructions on April Fools Day.
The worm will become active once the machine system clock is set to or past the 1st of April this year. The infected machines will attempt to connect to around 50 000 random URLs daily once they become active, as well as attempting to reach a ‘command’ domain to receive further instruction.
The random connections are believed to be a masking process for the main domain that will issue further instructions to the worm. Essentially, once an infected machine has received further instructions, the worm will turn that machine into part of a botnet under the control of the virus creator.
A reward for information leading to the arrest of the creator of the Conficker worm is still in effect.
Brett Venter
