[英语阅读]病毒今日爆发 愚人还是害人

April Fool's Day computer virus could cause internet chaos today

一种名为Conficker的蠕虫病毒有可能在4月1日“愚人节”当天大规模传播。自去年秋天以来，这种病毒已经感染了全世界超过1500万台电脑。据称，该蠕虫病毒编写者在现有的Conficker病毒脚本中表明，将于2009年4月1日将该病毒升级。届时，感染病毒的计算机访问网络的速度将大大降低，并且防病毒类网站将会自动关闭。将病毒升级的消息作为愚人节的“骗局”，还是真的会编写病毒变种并在今天将其进行大规模传播？病毒编写者的真正意图到底没人能猜透。不过，网络安全机构还是提醒广大用户及时更新防病毒软件，防患于未然。

A virus that experts believe has wormed its way into millions of computers could choose today to attack.

A virus that experts believe has wormed its way into millions of computers could choose today to attack.

The Conficker virus, which is thought to have infected up to 15million computers since last autumn, has so far lurked harmlessly - but it is said to be programmed to change the way it operates today.

No one knows what it will do - with some suspecting it is simply an April Fool's joke.

But there are fears the virus, which infects machines through the internet and via memory sticks, will be used to steal bank details, send spam emails or crash a major website by overloading it by redirecting all affected computers to it.

Conficker, which is also known as Downadup or Kido, is a 'worm' virus that exploits a gap in Microsoft Windows software.

Parliament, the Ministry of Defence and several NHS trusts have been infected, as well as home computers.

Experts are sceptical about whether today is the day the worm will turn, but urge the public to ensure their anti-virus software is up to date.

Security patches can be downloaded from Microsoft, which has offered a $175,000 reward to find the culprits.

One sign of already being infected is being blocked from visiting the websites of anti-virus companies such as McAfee.

Graham Cluley, of internet security company Sophos, advises people to rid their machines of the worm as soon as they can.

He said: 'There is no reason to believe that there will be any instructions for Conficker to receive on 1 April,' he said. 'They could just as easily be delivered on 2 April, 4 April, 25 May or never.

'This network is large and the whole world is going to be watching everything it does.

'You could argue it is a victim of its own success because it is going to be difficult for it to do anything under the radar.'

Mikko Hypponen, of antivirus software firm F-Secure, said: 'It is scary thinking about how much control a hacker could have. They would have Access to millions of machines.'