Worm infects 15 million of computers worldwide

A new digital plague has hit the Internet, infecting millions of personal and business computers in what seems to be the first step of a multistage attack. The world’s leading computer security experts do not yet know who programmed the infection, or what the next stage will be.In recent weeks a worm, a malicious software program, has swept through corporate, educational and public computer networks around the world. Known as Conficker or Downadup, it is spread by a recently discovered Microsoft Windows vulnerability, by guessing network passwords and by hand-carried consumer gadgets like USB keys.
http://nytimes.com/2009/01/23/technology/internet/23worm.html
http://iht.com/articles/2009/01/23/technology/23worm.phpMystery virus hits 15 million PCs around the world
A mysterious computer virus, the purpose of which has yet to become apparent, is spreading so fast that it has already infected more than 15 million computers around the world. Some six million machines have been contaminated in the past three days alone by the virus, a worm known as Downadup, Conficker or Kido.More than 3,000 British organisations – including hospitals, the Ministry of Defence, councils, and what are described as “well-known firms” – have been hit. They and the hundreds of thousands of other victim organisations in countries such as the US, Russia, China and India are now bracing themselves for the virus to be triggered and do whatever malicious work it has been designed to do.
www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/mystery-virus-hits-15-million-pcs-around-the-world-1515314.html