Experts warn that 8 Million Pc’s are now effected with a new sleeper virus that allows hackers to steal financial and personal information

The Downadup or Conficker worm exploits a bug in Microsoft Windows to infect mainly corporate networks, where, it potentially exposes infected PCs to hijack.

Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at anti-virus firm F-Secure, says while the purpose of the worm is unclear, its unique “phone home” design, linking back to its point of origin, means it can receive further orders to wreak havoc.

He said his company had reverse-engineered its program, which they suspected of originating in Ukraine, and is using the call-back mechanism to monitor an exponential infection rate, despite Microsoft‘s issuing of a patch to fix the bug.

“On Tuesday there were 2.5 million, on Wednesday 3.5 million and today [Friday], eight million,” he told CNN. “It’s getting worse, not better.”

Hypponen explained to CNN that the virus is the most serious large scale worm outbreak we have seen in recent years

The worm does not spread over email or the Web.

However, the worn is spread by any computer which is connected to an infected corporate network.

The worm will scan company networks trying to guess your password, trying hundreds and hundreds of common words. If it gets in, even if you are not at your machine, it will infect and begin spreading to other servers.

Be aware and be careful.

Or get a mac.