2009's Virus Attack

Malware, a portmanteau from the words malicious...and software, is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner's informed consent. The expression is a general term used by computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of hostile, intrusive, or annoying software or program code.The term "computer virus" is sometimes used as a catch-all phrase to include all types of malware, including true viruses.

A malicious software programme known as Conficker that many feared would wreak havoc on April 1 is slowly being activated, weeks after being dismissed as a false alarm, security experts said.

Conficker, also known as Downadup or Kido, is quietly turning thousands of personal computers into servers of e-mail spam and installing spyware, they said.

The worm started spreading late last year, infecting millions of computers and turning them into "slaves" that respond to commands sent from a remote server that effectively controls an army of computers known as a botnet.

Vincent Weafer, a vice president, Symantec Security Response, the research arm of Symantec Corp., said: "Its unidentified creators started using those machines for criminal purposes in recent weeks by loading more malicious software onto a small percentage of computers under their control."

"Expect this to be long-term, slowly changing," he said of the worm. "It's not going to be fast, aggressive."

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