It's still uncertain whether the Conficker time bomb will explode the laughs of April Fool's Day or it will create a real havoc! Well in any case, the countdown of the Conficker time bomb has begun!

According to Mike Stute of Dallas-based Global DataGuard, a network security firm, "Everybody is a little bit nervous about it. It could be nothing. It could be very dangerous."

Whether rumor or real threat, the Conficker time bomb has been successful in vexing and threatening the computer users and security experts, worldwide. Microsoft has issued a $250,000 bounty on the creators of the Conficker time bomb.

The iota of people who are still ignorant about Conficker time bomb may ask, "What is Conficker time bomb?" Well, the Conficker is a computer worm, a malicious software program that spread through a security hole in Microsoft Windows. It is also known as Downadup. The latest variant of the Conficker worm has been rumored to hit the online computer systems worldwide on the April Fool's Day - April 1.

The latest version of the Conficker worm may infect the millions of computers that are not equipped with right protection tools or programs and updated operating systems. The computers, with automatically received Windows updates from Microsoft and with updated antivirus software, could be safe from the Conficker worm. However, according to the security experts, the Conficker worm weakens the defense systems if the infected compute systems.

Meanwhile, the US Department of Homeland Security on Monday released a tool to detect whether a computer is infected by the Conficker worm. The DHS-developed detection tool helps scanning computers to determine if they are infected by the worm. Created by the DHS US-CERT team, the Conficker worm-scanning software is available for federal and state government agencies, commercial vendors, and critical infrastructure owners. It is available via Government Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams Portal and via various Information Sharing and Analysis Centers, for private-sector partners.

In a statement, US-CERT director Mischel Kwon stated that while many worm-mitigation tools are available out there, the DHS-developed Conficker detection tool is the only free tool available for enterprises like government agencies. He said, "Our experts at US-CERT are working around the clock to increase our capabilities to address the cyber risk to our nation's critical networks and systems, both from this threat and all others."