The week of April 1st marks the time that Conficker.C starts its malicious actions but the damage that it will cause remains to be a mystery to security researchers.
Believe it or not but security researchers are basically clueless when it comes to predicting Conficker's next move. Next week marks the time that the newest variant of Conficker will start to contact its controllers and many are unsure of what we are to expect.
What is Conficker.C?
Conficker.C is the newest variant of the malicious Worm that infected millions of PCs around the world previously this year. The newer variant, Conficker.C, is expected to use a new communication scheme on April 1st to link to the control servers which are operated by the hackers to initially spread this malware. Some have already called Conficker.C the April Fool's Day Worm because of the April 1st date that is coded into the worm. April fools may turn out to be a catastrophe for some but no one is 100% certain yet.
The hackers who created Conficker and the latest Conficker.C, have initiated this secretive tactic to cohort security researchers and those who may be able to put a stop to the spread of Conficker. If you remember how we talked about Conficker.C emerging to elude countermeasures then you will understand the reasons for hackers creating a new variant of this devious worm.
What should we expect from Conficker.C come April 1st?
The Conficker Cabal may not be the ones to limit spread or get a grasp on the new Conficker.C worm this time. Unfortunately what is to come next week remains to be a mystery that could potentially affect millions of computers around the world. It is almost like an unpredictable storm or tornado. You know it is headed in your direction but you are unsure of the type of damage that it will do until it is all over-and-done-with.
Joe Stewart, the director of malware research at SecureWorks Inc said, "It's impossible to know until we see something that has a clear profit motive." He also added "So far, we haven't seen any evidence [on those machines] of what it will do April 1." If this is not scary enough for you then just wait until April 1st. We promise not to trick you with any April fools jokes although this may be a very busy day for security researchers as we all await to find out the next actions of the Conficker infection.
Do you expect Conficker.C to be as bad as the Conficker Worm variant that affected millions of computers earlier this year?