NEWS: Source country of Conficker worm found?

Have you heard about the Conficker worm yet? Regardless, you'd better run a virus scan on your PC as soon as possible. The worm, which has infected an estimated 10 million PCs worldwide, is programmed to take action on April 1st, 2009. Exactly what action the worm will take (i.e. wipe the host's hard drive, steal private data and send it to the worm's creator, etc.) is not yet known.

Microsoft has offered a $250,000 bounty for information leading to the capture of the worm's creator, hoping that he or she can be apprehended before April 1st. The most recent development in this case is that experts now suspect that the worm may have originated in China.

Do yourself a favor -- run a virus scan today and make sure you don't have Conficker. Nobody knows exactly what it will do come April 1st, but you can avoid becoming a victim by being proactive and making sure your PC is clean.

UPDATE: You can scan your PC for Conficker for free on Microsoft's website.

UPDATE 2: Microsoft has renamed the group of computer professionals that are pursuing Conficker's creator the 'Conficker Working Group'. Hopefully the formal title brings with it an increased dedication to catch this guy.