Computerworld — New data from security company Kaspersky Lab showed that around five to six million computers around the world have already been infected by the Kido/Conficker worm, one of the most notorious malicious software programs to hit the Internet recently.

Topping the list of countries with most number of infections is China, with around 2.7 million reported cases, followed by Brazil and Russia with 1 million and 800,000 infected units respectively. The Philippines ranks 19th globally with 126,594 confirmed instances of the virus.

The worm, which has started spreading late 2008, gives cybercriminals the means to execute devastating DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attacks, steal confidential data and distribute unsolicited content.

"There is no definite amount on how much damage the Conficker virus has made on businesses so far because it continues to spread at a phenomenal rate and cybercriminals have become more sophisticated in creating difficult to detect malwares such as Conficker to steal important data from our devices," Suk Ling Gun, Managing Director, Kaspersky Lab, South-East Asia, said.

Gun advices PC owners and company IT managers to treat the issue seriously and remain vigilant against malware attacks, which, according to 2007 data from research firm Consumer Economics, have cost businesses as much as $13 billion in financial losses.