An organization that monitors the size and scope of botnet activity estimates that 7 million machines remain infected with the Conficker/Downadup worm, making up a zombie army awaiting orders from the cybercriminals behind the massive Conficker botnet.

Security experts say the good news is that the Conficker bots are still being closely monitored to detect any signs of activity. Despite the botnet’s size, it would be difficult for anyone to use it to make money or break it up and rent portions out without being detected, said Mikko Hyppönen, chief research officer at F-Secure Corp. Hyppönen said those behind Conficker would be safer to abandon it altogether or risk being caught by law enforcement eager to follow a money trail.

“Conficker was unique in many ways and the biggest mystery around Conficker is why?” Hyppönen said. “The most logical explanation is that Conficker got too big and too noisy. It attracted too much attention.”

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Conficker-infected machines now number 7 million, Shadowserver finds