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As expected, today’s alleged Conficker doomsday turned out to be more of an April Fools’ joke.  The worm did phone home quietly, but no major attacks or events have happened.  Conficker did contact its control servers for an update, visiting 500 randomly generated domains to receive an update and further operating instructions.  Security experts aren’t sure if it was all just hype or if the minds behind the worm changed their plans due to all the publicity the April 1st date got.

April 1 is not the first time Conficker has been programmed to change the way it operates. Similar trigger dates have already passed with little change, including January 1, according to according to Phil Porras, a program director with SRI International. Security experts at Symantec, the maker of Norton Antivirus, also believe the threat is overblown and says Conficker today will “start taking more steps to protect itself” and “use a communications system that is more difficult for security researchers to interrupt.”

Fear not, however.  Microsoft has offered a $250,000 reward to anyone with information leading to the people responsible for Conficker, and several experts say they’ve found a flaw in the worm that makes it easier to detect and even interrupt.  But even with these breakthroughs, it still has the possibility of becoming a massive botnet that could flood us with even more spam or even attack government networks.  All Windows users are urged to keep their version of Windows and their anti-virus software fully updated.  It’s not something to put off.  Even if Conficker does prove harmless there are lots of other security threats out there and new ones arriving all the time.

Read [PCWorld]