BY ERIK LARKIN
LAST YEAR THE first massive worm outbreak in years infected millions of computers worldwide, from French navy systems to British hospitals to countless businesses. Ironically, its brazen onslaught may mean little reward for its creators.
The conficker worm, aka Downadup, hit the scene in late November, attacking a Windows flaw patched the month before. At the end of December, an update with new propagation tricks appeared. In just a few weeks, the variant achieved up to 9 million infections.
Today's malware, however isn't meant to draw attention as the Sasser worm did (the last big outbreak, in 2004), but to make money quietly by sending spam and stealing financial data or sensitive documents. Confiker's impressive infection rate drew a swift and organized response from Microsoft, VeriSign, and security companies and researchers.
The conficker worm, aka Downadup, hit the scene in late November, attacking a Windows flaw patched the month before. At the end of December, an update with new propagation tricks appeared. In just a few weeks, the variant achieved up to 9 million infections.
Today's malware, however isn't meant to draw attention as the Sasser worm did (the last big outbreak, in 2004), but to make money quietly by sending spam and stealing financial data or sensitive documents. Confiker's impressive infection rate drew a swift and organized response from Microsoft, VeriSign, and security companies and researchers.
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