A third version of Downadup has been identified by Symantec, which says the new variant gives infected machines more powerful instructions to disable anti-virus software and analysis tools, among other actions.
IBM is tracking the spread of the Conficker worm globally and has identified 1,156 instances of infection here in New Zealand as of January 29.
The French Navy was reportedly unable to launch fighter planes because of a computer worm infection this month. The planes reportedly could not download flight plans.
The Ministry of Health was last week preparing to claim victory after a virulent, 15-day infection of its computer systems.
Calling the scope of the attack "amazing," security researchers at F-Secure say that 6.5 million Windows PCs have been infected by the "Downadup" worm in the last four days, and that nearly nine million have been compromised in just over two weeks.