Deadly PC virus -- Conficker C -- to strike on April 1

A security expert has cautioned that an Internet worm, called Conficker C, can strike at infected computers around the world on April 1.

Conficker C is a sophisticated piece of malicious computer software, or malware, that installs itself on a PC hard drive via specially written web pages and then conceals itself on a computer.

Graham Cluley, of the security specialist Sophos, has claimed that Conficker C is programmed "to hunt for new instructions on April 1".

However, "this does not mean that anything is going to happen, or that the worm is actually going to do anything. Simply, it is scheduled to hunt a wider range of websites for instructions on that date," The Times quoted him as saying.

And the biggest catch is that no one yet has any idea what exactly Conficker C is programmed to do.

In February, Cluley said, "It's as if someone is assembling an army of computers around the world, but hasn't yet decided where to point them."

Experts are fearing that on April 1 all the world's millions of infected computers may receive simultaneous instructions to attack, or to flood the Internet with spam email.

Ed Gibson, Microsoft's chief security adviser for the UK, was quite hesitant to make predictions about Conficker's behaviour.

"April 1 is a classic date for anything like this to go off. But I really would hate to say that April 1 is going to be unlike any other day," he said.

Agencies