Conficker haunts enterprises years on

The Conficker worm is currently the largest security threat to enterprises, continuing to spread due to weak or stolen passwords and vulnerabilities that require security patches, according to a Microsoft report.

According to the Microsoft "Security Intelligence Report volume 12" (SIRv12), which analyses online threat data, the Conficker worm was detected 220 million times worldwide in the past two and a half years, making it the biggest threat to enterprises. In the fourth quarter alone, the worm was detected on 1.7 million systems worldwide.

The report analysed online threats from July to December last year, looking at 600 million systems from more than 100 countries worldwide. The worm steals administrative passwords, and uses them to log on to every other machine in the network, thereafter compromising those machines. It was first detected in November 2008.