Conficker will also attempt a 'brute force' attack to guess passwords used by corporate networks, and then replicate through shared connections to the network.

Once infected, the virus turns off Windows Update services - thereby preventing the machine from obtaining the very patch that would have prevented the initial exploit.

The Conficker worm can easily infect Peer-to-peer or removable devices such as a Flash Drive or an iPod with an autorun file that executes once the infected device is connected to a PC. To combat possible infection of this virus, Shavlik is offering a free security tool to help companies proactively protect their PCs and networks, as well as attached devices, from this malicious virus. Go to http://www.shavlik.com/landingpage/20090326-conficker.aspx for a free download of the utility.

Shavlik is already protecting millions of computers worldwide with Shavlik's NetChk Protect security suite from infection by this variant of the Conficker virus.

"This is eerily reminiscent of the major worms of five years or more ago, Sasser/Blaster and before that Code Red, that had organizations scrambling to avoid infection. The advice today is the same as then " patch your systems first. This provides the breathing room to then update your firewall and AV technologies," said Chris Schwartzbauer, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, of Shavlik Technologies. "What's also critical to understand is that IT organizations don't have time to waste with limited or integrated tools that don't provide the visibility, automation, and control required to manage proper, system wide updates. For companies that thought they were covered only to be hit with the virus, clearly the proper investment wasn't made on the front end."

About Shavlik Technologies Shavlik Technologies, LLC delivers enterprise IT organizations robust software solutions that rapidly accelerate and continuously improve security and compliance readiness by simplifying IT operations, and identifying and reliably closing system security gaps.

With more than 10,000 customers worldwide, Shavlik enables enterprises to simplify complex IT security and compliance management, providing trustworthy solutions that free up critical IT resources to focus on innovations that drive business growth while lowering costs. Shavlik also licenses its technology to more than 20 leading security and technology companies such as BMC, Juniper, Sophos, Symantec and VMware. For more information, visit Shavlik Technologies at www.shavlik.com.