Conficker Twitch Leaves Security Sleuths With More Mysteries to Solve

"One conundrum: They don't know why it has a kill switch that apparently kicks in on May 3.

"Also, the new variant has a mysterious dropped component. It will eventually delete that component, and researchers are still trying to figure out why.

"Puzzles, Anyone?

"The new variant is not a single program but actually several related components, David Haley, director of malware intelligence at Eset, told TechNewsWorld. It is a subvariant of Conficker.A, the very first version of Conficker, which came out late in 2008, he said. Security experts are still scrambling to unravel Conficker.AQ's code, but they have come up with tidbits that raise more questions than they answer. Take the kill switch, for example. "We're still trying to determine why Conficker will turn itself off on May 3," Ivan Macalintal, a member of the Conficker Working Group, which was set up to fight the worm, told TechNewsWorld."

Complete Story

Related Stories:

• Mafiaboy: Conficker Was a Ruse(Apr 09, 2009)
• Conficker Eye Chart(Apr 04, 2009)
• Security Absurdity: The Complete, Unquestionable, And Total Failure of Information Security(Apr 03, 2009)
• Conficker: Over 300,000 Domains Blocked, Millions Infected(Apr 01, 2009)
• Letter from a CIO: why Conficker won't hurt our company(Mar 31, 2009)
• GNU/Linux Really Can Save Us from Conficker(Mar 31, 2009)
• 100% cure for Conficker(Mar 30, 2009)
• "60 Minutes" freaks out over Conficker. Where's John Hodgman when you need him?(Mar 30, 2009)
• Leaked memo says Conficker pwns Parliament(Mar 30, 2009)
• New worm infect Linux-based home modem/routers(Mar 25, 2009)
• No joke in April Fool's Day computer worm(Mar 24, 2009)
• The Conficker Worm: April Fool's Joke or Unthinkable Disaster?(Mar 21, 2009)