Attack of Conficker to thousands of PCs

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A malicious software programme known as conficker that many feared would wreak havoc on April 1 is slowly being activated, weeks after being dismissed as a false alarm, security experts said. Conficker also known as Downadup or Kido, is quietly turning thousands of personal computers into servers of email spam and installing spyware, they said. The worm started spreading late last year infecting millions of computers and turning them into Slaves that respond to commands sent from a remote server that effectively controls an army of known as a botnet. Its unidentified creators started using those machines for criminal purposes in recent weeks by loading more malicious soft ware onto a small percentage of computers under their control, said Vincet Weafer, a vice president with Symantec security Response the research arm of the world’s largest security software maker, Symanatec Crop. Expect this is to be long term slowly changing, he said of the worm. It is not going to be fast, aggressive. Conficker installs a second virus known as Waldec that sends out email spam without knowledge of the PCs owner along with a fake antisyware program weafer said. The Waledac virus recruits the PCs into a second botnetthat has existed for several years and specializes in distributing email spam. There is probably one of the most sophisticated botnets on the planet. The guys behind this are very professional. They absolutely know what they are doing. He said confickers authority authors likely installed a spam engine and another malicious software program on tens of thousands of computers since April 7. He said the worm will stop disturbing the software on infected PCs on May 3 but more attacks will likely follow. We expect to see a different component or a whole new twist to the way this botnet does business.

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