Where did the Conficker worm come from? Researchers at the University of Michigan are trying to find out, using a network of Internet sensors to track down the "patient zero" of the virus. The university uses so-called darknet sensors that were set up about six years ago to keep track of malicious activity With funding from the Department of Homeland Security computer scientists have united to share data collected from sensors around the world. "The goal is to get close enough so you can actually start mapping out how the spread started,"says Jon Oberheide, a graduate student who is working on the project. That's not an easy job.To find the minuscule clues that will identify the victim, researchers must sift through more than 50 terabytes of data, hoping to find the telltale signatures of a Conficker scan.
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