Viruses/Worms News

Conficker steps into the ring with new variant

Monday, February 23, 2009

After Microsoft announced a bounty for the Conficker developers two weeks ago, it appears the people behind the worm that has devastated at least 12 million machines have released a new variant that increases its malicious potential.

Conficker B++, the name of the variant, has evolved and offers its producers a new way to communicate with the worm, which may allow them to do more damage onto infected computers.

Prior to the new variant, the worm employed an algorithm to find various rendezvous points, which use unique domain names. In response to that, Microsoft and various network security providers formed an alliance to gather as many domain names the Conficker worm may use.

However, the new variant seemingly bypasses that step with two new techniques incorporated into Conficker B++, which allows the worm to publish new code without using pre-programmed sites.

According to the report from the security organization that discovered the variant, Conficker B++ has 39 new routines with three existing subroutines modified. In time, the added elements to the worm may make domain names unnecessary for the worm.

On February 12th, Microsoft announced a $250,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of the people responsible for Conficker.