New virus April 1

Conflicker Worm or Conflicker Virus is no April Fools Day prank! It is a very stubborn Internet worm that’s also called the Microsoft Virus and has been in circulation since late 2008. It specifically targets most of Microsoft’s operating systems and is ’scheduled’ to make it’s appearance on April 1.

According to the Conflicker Work Group, the primary intent of the Conficker worm is to infect computers with an agent that will turn them into “zombies” on a large network of infected computers, referred to as a botnet. The botnet collection of compromised Internet-connected computers can be remotely controlled by a single computer, referred to as the command and control center.

Once infected, any computer on a botnet can be given instructions from the command center to perform whatever function the remote hacker desires, including sending spam, infecting other computers or tracking keystrokes for the purposes of getting as much information about you so they can commit Identity theft.

The April 1 Virus or Microsoft Virus is especially disconcerting because it is specifically designed to bypass and disable hundreds of popular security programs and Web sites, and it has a trigger date of April 1 (hence the name) with a yet unknown payload.

To make matters worse, the Conficker Virus is very good at hiding from you and your security programs and has code that allows it to “evolve” its ability to avoid detection and removal.

Many infections are from the usual suspects: e-mail attachments, rogue links in e-mails or on malicious Web sites, or from downloading files from peer-to-peer networks such as Limewire and KaZaa.

If you routinely view online video and you are suddenly told you need something new to view online videos, especially from a no-name Web site, be suspicious.

Hey, but there’s help. A list of the free Conficker removal programs is available on the Web site of the Conficker Working Group, an alliance of companies fighting the worm. The removal programs will take care of themselves, for the most part, scanning your system and purging the worm.

To protect yourself further from the Microsoft Virus also called the Conflicker Worm, make sure your Microsoft updates are current as well as any updates available from Symantec, Nortons or McAfee computer security systems.