Conficker threat continues to grow

Researchers at Symantec have reported that the malware botnet is still claiming victims at a rate of 50,000 systems per day.

According the researchers, infections are the highest in the United States, Brazil and India. High infection rates were also found in China, Mexico and Italy.

"Well much of the media hype seems to have died down around Conficker/Downadup, but it is still out there spreading far and wide," the researchers wrote.

"In fact the Symantec threat intelligence team estimate there are 50,000 newly infected PCs a day right now."

First appearing in January, the many variants on the Conficker worm spread throughout the early part of the year. When researchers discovered that the third variant of the malware was designed to dial a control server on 1 April, a media storm erupted.

Though Conficker.c failed to perform any sort of significant attack, the malware continued to spread throughout April. Later in the month, researchers discovered that a new variant on the malware was making the rounds.

Since the frenzy over Conficker died down, the malware has been eclipsed in the public eye by more prolific attacks, such as the recent Gumblar infection.