Conficker may not be covering its tracks as tightly as once thought.

According to The Washington Post, Honeynet Project researchers have discovered a security hole in the computer code that powers the worm. Researchers say Conficker doesn't completely close the hole that allows it to move into infected systems.

Conficker Cabal is working with groups that maintain software vulnerability scanning tools to help them develop updates that would allow their tools to distinguish between Windows systems with the official and rogue security patch.

Researcher Dan Kaminsky, who has been working with the Honeynet Project, says:

"Conficker actually changes what Windows looks like on the network, and this change can be detected remotely, anonymously, and very, very quickly. You can literally ask a server if it's infected with Conficker, and it will tell you."

With hackers taking advantage of the media hype over Conficker, you have to be careful about which sites you visit for information. PC Magazine's Larry Seltzer provides a nice list of the eight most important things to know about Conficker.