(Newser)
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An April Fools information apocalypse did not occur, but the widespread Conficker virus that caused so much fear of is still out there, CNN reports. Experts are puzzled over the lack of an attack, but the sheer size of the Conficker infection—5 million computers—yields a clue. “The more experienced attackers don’t let their viruses or their worms spread this widely,” one says.
Regardless of the effect, the worm— a “botnet” that allows hackers to take control of a group of computers—is a marvel to the computer security industry. “Conficker does stand out as one of those bots that is very large and has been able to sustain itself on the Web,” a researcher says. Adds a consultant: “The hackers never really did much with the botnet that they created. They were almost frightened off doing it.”
