Tricky Windows Worm Wallops Millions

A sneaky computer worm that uses a virtual Swiss army knife of attack techniques has infected millions of Microsoft Windows PCs, and appears to be spreading at a fairly rapid pace, security experts warn.Also, while infected PCs could be used for a variety of criminal purposes — from relaying spam to hosting scam Web sites — there are signs that this whole mess may be an attempt to further spread so-called “scareware,” which uses fake security alerts to frighten consumers into purchasing bogus computer security software.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2009/01/tricky_windows_worm_wallops_mi.htmlThree million hit by Windows worm
A worm that spreads through low security networks, memory sticks, and PCs without the latest security updates is posing a growing threat to users.The malicious program, known as Conficker, Downadup, or Kido was first discovered in October 2008.Although Microsoft released a patch, it has gone on to infect 3.5m machines.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7832652.stm‘Amazing’ worm attack infects 9 million PCs
Calling the scope of the attack “amazing,” security researchers at F-Secure Corp. today said that 6.5 million Windows PCs have been infected by the “Downadup” worm in the last four days, and that nearly 9 million have been compromised in just over two weeks.Early Friday, the Finnish firm revised its estimate of the number of computers that had fallen victim to the worm, and explained how it came to the figure. “The number of Downadup infections [is] skyrocketing,” Toni Koivunen, an F-Secure researcher, said in an entry to the company’s Security Lab blog. “From an estimated 2.4 million infected machines to over 8.9 million during the last four days. That’s just amazing.”
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