The New York Times reports:

An extraordinary behind-the-scenes struggle is taking place between computer security groups around the world and the brazen author of a malicious software program called Conficker.

The program grabbed global attention when it began spreading late last year and quickly infected millions of computers with software code that is intended to lash together the infected machines it controls into a powerful computer known as a botnet.

Since then, the program’s author has repeatedly updated its software in a cat-and-mouse game being fought with an informal international alliance of computer security firms and a network governance group known as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Members refer to the alliance as the Conficker Cabal.

Apparently this has gained wide attention among leaders in the technology field, as Microsoft even issued a $250,000 award for information leading the author of the worm.

No one has yet been able to find out whether the Conficker C is being developed by one programmer or a group. Nor is there solid evidence on what the goal of the software is. However there is a suspesion that the worm will be used to take over computers then use them for other malicious activities such as mass spam or malware distribution. Code has been found in the worm that would allow an infected computer to be controlled remotely.

The Author(s) are on top of their game:

Several people who have analyzed various versions of the program said Conficker’s authors were obviously monitoring the efforts to restrict the malicious program and had repeatedly demonstrated that their skills were at the leading edge of computer technology.

For example, the Conficker worm already had been through several versions when the alliance of computer security experts seized control of 250 Internet domain names the system was planning to use to forward instructions to millions of infected computers.

Shortly thereafter, in the first week of March, the fourth known version of the program, Conficker C, expanded the number of the sites it could use to 50,000. That step made it virtually impossible to stop the Conficker authors from communicating with their botnet.

The researchers, noting that the Conficker authors were using the most advanced computer security techniques, said the original version of the program contained a recent security feature developed by an M.I.T. computer scientist, Ron Rivest, that had been made public only weeks before. And when a revision was issued by Dr. Rivest’s group to correct a flaw, the Conficker authors revised their program to add the correction.

Not your run of the mill virus, this example of extreme tech has some serious potential threat:

“Perhaps the most obvious frightening aspect of Conficker C is its clear potential to do harm,” said Phillip Porras, a research director at SRI International and one of the authors of the report. “Perhaps in the best case, Conficker may be used as a sustained and profitable platform for massive Internet fraud and theft.”

“In the worst case,” Mr. Porras said, “Conficker could be turned into a powerful offensive weapon for performing concerted information warfare attacks that could disrupt not just countries, but the Internet itself.”

Don DeBolt told CNN:

CA said it recently found a piece of code in Conficker C that says the worm will become active on April 1. Previous versions of the malicious software launched on specific dates noted in the program code, so the April Fool’s Day launch date is not likely to be a trick…

I find this both a little scary, and pretty interesting. It’s amazing the talent and skill that some people have, but choose to use for malicious acts. It’ll be interesting to see how this unfolds. Skynet anyone?