Downadup worm infects 8.9m PCs

Nearly nine million PCs worldwide have been infected by the Downadup worm, and the number is set to rise, experts have warned.

Finnish security firm F-Secure said that 8.9 million computers were now infected - a massive rise since four days ago, when 2.4 million PCs had the worm.

The Downadup worm, also known as the Conficker worm, can spread through local area networks, the internet and on removable storage devices, the company warned.

"Downadup has 'old school' worm functionality (no user interaction required), the likes of which we haven't really seen for a while now. It also knows some current tricks," Sean Sullivan of F-Secure said.

The worm takes advantage of a flaw in the Windows Server software, which was first noticed in October 2008.

The vulnerability has been patched but it seems that some network administrators have not applied it to local networks under their control.

F-Secure expressed surprise at the rate of infections. "The situation with Downadup is not getting better. It's getting worse," said F-Secure's Toni Koivunen.

A recent report from rival security firm Secunia revealed that 98 per cent of home PCs were not secure.

www.f-secure.co.uk
www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS08-067.mspx