Tomorrow April 1, is D-Day for Conficker, as whatever nasty payload it’s packing is currently set to activate. What happens come midnight is a mystery: Will it turn the millions of infected computers into spam-sending zombie robots? Or will it start capturing everything you type — passwords, credit card numbers, etc. — and send that information back to its masters?
The total number of viruses will reach one million by year’s end, according to security experts.
Malware writers have been forced to create new types of viruses and exploits more regularly as businesses and individuals improve security practices, the experts said.
Sophos chief technology officer Paul Ducklin said about 25 percent of unique malware has been created in the last six months of its 20 year history.