It's been about a year since Conficker/Downadup first hit, and although the threat didn't turn out to be as grave as it had the potential to be, the 6.5 million PCs that remain infected today represent what Symantec calls a "loaded gun, waiting to be fired".
Faulty software, aging systems, complexity and a lack of full network control all contributed to computer virus infection at Waikato District Health Board last December, according to a report presented to the DHB’s board today.
More than a year after doomsday reports hinted that the Conficker worm would bring down the Internet, one-in-10 Windows PCs still have not been patched to plug the hole the worm wriggles through, new data shows.
The Conficker worm is alive and well and has shut down the police network in Manchester, United Kingdom, for the past three days.
A major server crash at the Ministry of Health on Tuesday had nothing to do with the Confickr worm that had earlier plagued the ministry, a spokesman says.