The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) says it is taking steps to counter possible misuse of the dot-ca domain by the Conficker C worm.

Conficker C is the latest variant of a malicious Internet software program that acts in two stages. The first stage has infected potentially millions of computers around the world and, beginning April 1, is expected to try to communicate with command codes placed on web sites by the worm's authors.

The Conficker C worm has been programmed to randomly generate domain names from 110 country-code domains around the world, including dot-ca. CIRA's counter efforts include preemptively registering and isolating previously unregistered dot-ca domain names expected to be generated over the next 12 months by Conficker C. This move, which covers the majority of affected names during that period, will prevent registration of those domains by undesirable actors.

For security reasons, CIRA was not willing to provide further details.