Real Conficker Danger is on March 31st

Yesterday, I wrote about the Conficker worm and how it was expected to launch a new attack on April 1^st.  I showed you the reverse engineered code which included a specific date stamp of April 1^st, 2009.

What I forgot, and what everyone else missed is the real danger begins on March 31^st. I woke up this morning remembering that sometime in the world, it’s already tomorrow.

Many years ago I distributed my free WinPatrol program as something called Birthdayware.  On  my birthday each year a message would pop up inviting folks to thank me by wishing me a happy birthday.

Birthdayware Easter Egg

To my surprise, the day before my birthday Emails started to flood my inbox. At first I thought a lot of people had their PC clocks screwed up. Then I looked at the Emails and saw they came from Philippines, Australia, Japan and other countries across the international date line.

It will be March 31^st in most parts of the world when it turns April 1^st across the Pacific. Most reports have indicated a majority of machines currently infected with Conficker are in China. 

Forget April Fools Day and make sure you take steps to protect yourself before March 31^st. Somewhere in the world it will be April 1^st for nearly 48 hours.