[IP] Microsoft takes on spam zombies
Begin forwarded message:
From: Bob Frankston <Bob19-0501@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: October 28, 2005 5:15:17 PM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Microsoft takes on spam zombies
Microsoft takes on spam zombies
By Joris Evers
Campaign against junk e-mail is expanded to target criminals who
hijack PCs to send spam messages.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5917817.html?tag=sas.email
Hoping to turn the tide on spam zombies, Microsoft has filed suit
against entities it said used compromised PCs to send millions of
junk e-mail messages.
The company has identified 13 different spamming operations that use
such "zombies," it said Thursday. A lawsuit was filed against unnamed
defendants in August. Since then Microsoft has tracked down some of
the people behind the operations, said Tim Cranton, director of
Internet Safety Enforcement Programs at Microsoft in Redmond, Wash.
"We have identified a number of entities in North America that we
feel the evidence will show are liable and culpable for the spamming
that occurred," Cranton said.
Microsoft has taken spammers to court before for using deceptive
subject lines or fake "from" addresses. The company is now expanding
its spam fight to include criminals who hijack PCs to send unwanted e-
mail. "We are moving upstream and looking at the source of the spam
problem, and it is obviously the zombies," Cranton said.
A zombie is a computer--typically connected to the Internet via a
broadband connection and without security software to protect it--
that has been infected by a Trojan horse or other malicious code and
is used remotely to send spam, mount denial-of-service attacks, or
other online crimes. A network of zombies is referred to as a "botnet."
Zombie PCs have become a serious problem that requires more industry
action, the Federal Trade Commission said earlier this year.
Microsoft believes more than half of all spam is sent by zombies. The
FTC has launched "Operation Spam Zombie" and asked Internet service
providers to quarantine zombies and help users clean the PCs.
In its investigation, Microsoft intentionally created a zombie
computer. Over a three-week period, the PC was accessed 5 million
times by its remote controllers and used to send out 18 million spam
messages advertising more than 13,000 Web sites, Cranton said.
Microsoft said it blocked the junk mail before it hit the Internet.
"We were startled," Cranton said. "We did not expect the numbers to
be that high and were surprised at the large volume of spam through
just one zombie."
After the exercise, Microsoft analyzed traffic to the zombie and the
spam messages it was meant to send out. It compared those with other
spam messages captured in Hotmail accounts. The evidence contributed
to the lawsuit in which Microsoft has identified 13 different
spamming operations.
Microsoft's announcement comes weeks after Dutch police arrested
three individuals suspected of hacking about 1.5 million PCs
worldwide and turning those into a botnet. Microsoft's effort and the
arrests in the Netherlands are just a drop in the bucket.
"We believe there are tens of millions of zombie computers out
there," Cranton said.
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