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Dreaded Conficker Virus Activates a Week Later Than Expected

by Tim Stevens on April 10, 2009 at 11:01 AM

Conficker Activates One Week Later than ExpectedIf you were watching or reading the news last week, chances are you got an ear (or eye) full about Conficker. Everyone was atwitter about how, on April 1st, the virus would awaken and do... something. That day came and went and, ultimately, nothing happened. But, according to CNN, something is finally happening. It seems that the virus is starting to stir, waking up on some machines and reaching out to the Internet.

However, there's still one big problem -- nobody knows what the exploit is planning to do. On Wednesday, the virus awoke and downloaded a package of encrypted instructions that left security experts at anti-virus firm Trend Micro guessing about the future of the virus. Apparently, it is reaching out to various Web sites to ensure it has connectivity and will stop replicating itself on May 3.

That's all we know right now. This means that, before long, it will stop spreading, but just what it'll do to the machines it has already infected remains to be seen. [From: CNN]

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Tags: conficker, security, virus

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