The third variant of Conficker appears

The third variant of Conficker appears Picture 1 Not only is the ability to spread rapidly, Conficker.c also has the ability to disable all attacks of the antivirus programs .

According to researchers from Symantec security firm, the virus of Conficker has appeared a new variant called Conficker.c (the second variant called Conficker B ++) in addition to spreading rapidly , can also automatically update for older versions to supplement the ability to resist the detection and destruction of existing antivirus programs in the world.

Vincent Weafer - Symantec Group vice president and head of security research group, said the Conficker virus, also known as "Downadup," has received a strong wanted of the technology world and computing, but continues to rage despite the release of an emergency patch in October 2008 by Microsoft. Last month, about 20 of the world's largest technology firms such as Microsoft, Symantec, VeriSign and ICANN . gathered to find ways to control the spread and attack of the virus. Microsoft also suspended a $ 250,000 prize for anyone who discovered the author of Conficker.

The first generation Conficker virus has a spread rate of about 250 domains per day, but the new version can infect up to 50,000 domains / day.

" Conficker.c makes us a lot more difficult. " Weafer said, "The number of domains that it can hijack every day has become a real challenge ."

However, there is a bit of luck that the number of PC infected with this virus is not so high as the concern of security experts. Symantec's tracking data said the world currently has nearly 2 million computers infected with Conficker.

Recommendations of the security world for computer users to avoid infection of this virus strain are: download and install the patch Windows with code MS08-067 on the Microsoft home page, thoroughly turn off Autoplay and Autorun features (for external storage devices such as optical drive CD / DVD, memory card, USB flash .).