Conficker Worm Still Managing To Infect 50,000 Computers Each Day

Everyone, including the media, has passed over Conficker as if it was dead. The infection of 50,000 PC's a-day should be enough proof that Conficker Worm is still far from being dead. According to security researchers, Conficker worm is managing to still infect systems at a rapid rate which includes systems in Fortune 1000 companies. Researchers at Symantec have said Conficker is infected about 50,000 new PCs each day. Systems located in the U.S., India and Brazil have been hit the hardest which was confirmed in the same report from researchers at Symantec.

The hype that circulated Conficker worm over two months go, has died down and is almost non-existent. The fact of the matter is, Conficker is still a viable threat and remains to be very active.

Conficker, Downadup or Kido, first started spreading in late 2008 where it took advantage of the MS087-067 vulnerability within the Microsoft Windows operating system. Since then, Conficker has evolved into several other variants including Conficker.B, Conficker.C and even Conficker.E. All versions combined, have managed to infect millions of computers. A good portion of the millions remain to be infected.

Many companies have spent millions of dollars to prevent infections such as Conficker over the course of several years. Even after the preventative measures were put in place, many systems were still infected with Conficker since it's conception. Conficker is a significant botnet. As you may know with a botnet infection, the creators have a certain degree of control over the infected computers. That means the compromised systems can be instructed to carry out malicious actions at any time.

What should be done in the mean-time about Conficker?

Actions need to be taken to ramp-up prevention and removal of the Conficker infection before a viable attack is initiated on the infected systems. Security researchers have continued to warn companies and network administrator groups to take the necessary precautions in lue of Conficker currently not being in the headlines of the news media. If Conficker continues to infect upwards of 50,000 computers a day, just think of the ramifications of an orchestrated attack using the massive botnet formed by all of the compromised PC's. This could be one of the biggest attacks that may leave networks infrastructures crippled for months.

Is it possible that the attackers or creators of Conficker purposely waited for the "calm after the storm" to initiate their ultimate attack? Do you think we will see a serious attack conducted by Conficker infected machines in the near future?