Fears on the Eve of Conficker (plus poll)

By Tom Dunlap

An April Fools joke might not be coming from just your 10 year old tomorrow.

Or, to put it another way, April might be the cruelest month (apologies to Mr. Eliot) if Conficker  -- the nasty computer worm that has infected millions of PCs -- really does unleash an Internet attack.

The worm has been turning since late last year, but it hasn't been big news for most of us non-security types until recently. It's big enough now that Leslie Stahl of 60 Minutes did a segment on the worm Sunday night.

The reason security experts are fretting about tomorrow is this: Code hunters have determined that there's a message in the fast-mutating Conficker code that indicates something will happen on April 1. Conficker's huge botnet is set to activate tomorrow and could unleash some sort of attack.

Meanwhile, hundreds of security experts are working to combat the bug. A list of the free Conficker removal programs can be found on the Web site of the Conficker Working Group, an alliance of companies fighting the worm.

Which leads me to our poll.

How worried are you about Conficker?

To Vote in the Poll

1. Click the Watch Now arrow below.
2. Look for the small Vote Now link and click it
3. A box pops up. Vote, and you'll see your vote tally in real time
4. You can also post a comment