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Symantec gets into a muddle over Conficker

Conficker might still be a threat, but security vendor Symantec gets its numbers slightly wrong.

By Asavin Wattanajantra, 22 May 2009 at 16:46

A figure published by Symantec that claimed Conficker newly infected 50,000 PCs each day isn’t actually true.

Guy Bunker, chief scientist at Symantec, originally claimed on his blog that there were 50,000 new PC infections every day - a figure which was widely reported.

When questioned by IT PRO, security operations manager Orla Brady said that what Symantec really meant was that it detected 50,000 PCs a day being attacked – not necessarily a cumulative total because it didn’t take into account machines which didn’t get cleaned up and were already infected.

Symantec has now changed Bunker’s blog entry to confirm the right information.

Conficker has been one of the biggest security threats of 2009, causing havoc through enterprise networks around the world with the way it spread and its ability to evolve.

Before 1 April, Conficker caused a media furore over worries that it could , which actually turned out to be very little once the deadline passed.

However, Conficker is still active, with security researchers still on high alert.

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