With its unique ability to attack industrial control systems, Stuxnet is the first computer virus, or "worm", that causes real-life harm.

Security experts think the Stuxnet was created with the explicit aim of disabling an Iranian uranium enrichment facility.

That seemingly geo-political aim, plus the sophistication of the virus, have led to speculation that Stuxnet may have been created by a government.

A worm that wriggled through Twitter’s systems over Easter only compromised around 100 accounts, but sent such a volume of spam to others that Twitter as a whole was frequently taken offline.

On his blog, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone recounts that the service suffered four separate attacks by the worm, dubbed "StalkDaily," beginning around 8am Sunday NZ time, and continued into Monday.

The super worm has stirred, updating itself by P2P to deliver a heavily-encrypted file to infected PCs.

It may have been an April 1 no-show, but Conficker is finally phoning home.

Antivirus software companies have begun to detect the worm updating itself via the rogue peer-to-peer (P2P) network or “bot-net” it has created for itself over the internet as it spreads, allowing it to “phone home” from infected PCs.

One security company, Trend Micro, says Conficker first stirred on Wednesday NZ time.

The super-worm has made tens of millions of PCs vulnerable, yet so far delivered no payload to any. One “expert” warns that April 1 could be the date that the other boot drops. (Read also: Shock, horror: Chinese behind Conficker.)

The software giant is offering cash for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for unleashing the worm – the most virulent virus the world has ever seen. Plus: new infection-avoiding tips from Microsoft NZ.

The $US250,000 bounty is being offered in conjunction with a number of industry organisations, including ICANN, which closest thing the internet has to a governing body.

Quelle horreur! France admits its naval systems were taken offline by the Conficker worm during January, but disputes that planes were grounded. Meanwhile, an antivirus software maker says “the new digital plague” now infects one in 16 PCs.