One of the most high-profile computer worms in recent history quietly activated yesterday, but showed no signs of causing havoc.
The Conficker worm, which is believed to have infected millions of computers around the world, was programmed to try to contact its authors through Internet servers on April 1. And while computer security companies reported some of that activity, the worm has, so far, done little else.
Now, the group of tech companies fighting the worm's as-yet-unidentified authors is waiting to see what the malicious code does next.
"Conficker should still be considered a serious threat ...," Dan Hubbard, chief technology officer at Websense, an internet security company, said in a statement. "There are millions of machines that are infected and the capability is definitely there for attackers to use the network for nefarious purposes."
Computers infected with Conficker can be used to create a powerful botnet, which in turn could be used for everything from sending spam e-mails to mining for credit-card information. Computer users can protect themselves by downloading Microsoft's security patches and updates - the worm only targets Windows-based machines. Microsoft has also offered a $250,000 reward for information leading to the worm's authors.
Some computer security experts believe the flood of attention Conficker garnered in recent weeks may have given its authors reason to lay low, and wait a few days to send further instructions to infected computers.
So far the worm has caused little damage. But, yesterday being April Fool's Day, there was no shortage of reports on various websites about all manner of Conficker-fuelled chaos, including nuclear silos going on high alert and bank machines spewing cash.
