A PCWorld blog entry calls out the FUD concerning the Conficker worm and the upcoming April 1 threat, saying that it is “likely hype.”

The article quotes a security researcher who says “there will be no April 1st outbreak,” explaining that the concern revolves around a new variant of Conficker that will become active on April 1st. The researcher is correct in saying that for those who are not yet infected, nothing will happen, and if you are, the worm will update itself. But here’s where it gets a little fuzzy. The reseracher says that although it is possible that the update could contain some dramatically dangerous or destructive instructions, it’s “unlikely.”

Let’s not forget though, the main watchwords of security professionals:

1. Trust no one.
2. You are not paranoid. Everybody really is out to get you.
3. Always protect against the unlikely.

Yes, it is true that there is a lot of hype about Conficker’s April Fool’s update. I even saw a report on it on Fox News. But is it just FUD? Sure, the update may not be destructive, in the sense that it’s unlikely that it would do something like wipe out your hard drive. The disseminators of Conficker have something more financially rewarding in mind. We don’t know what that is yet, and that’s the point. We need more FUD and hype about this thing to make sure everybody is aware of it–so don’t get lulled into a false sense of security by anyone claiming it to be “likely hype.”