Remember the great Conficker scare of 2008? Well although the botnet malware hasn’t done anything since beginning its infection rampage, the worm is still active on millions of computers and could be ordered into action at any point.
According to the International Business Times, Conficker still tries connecting to a series of IP addresses every day, looking for commands:
Conficker “wakes up” every day and generates a series of Web addresses that it then tries to connect to, and seek commands — that is, as it looks up a domain name, it can be told to expect a certain set of commands on a certain day. This data is encrypted via a method that is much more sophisticated than previous malware, and points to an author that is an expert in the subject.
Because Conficker isn’t doing anything damaging (yet), most people who aren’t nerds have no idea the worm even exists, giving them no reason to try and get rid of it. Security experts still don’t know who created the worm, or where the central command for the worm exists, but they do know that if it ever went active, Conficker could be a destructive force. And in the spirit of service, the IB Times directs you to this site, which will help you figure out if the PC-only malware is on your computer. [International Business Times via Slashdot]