Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Fret About PC Zombie Threat?
Yahoo! News ^ | 05/27/05 | Scarlet Pruitt

Posted on 05/28/2005 8:47:26 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster

Fret About PC Zombie Threat?

Scarlet Pruitt, IDG News Service
Fri May 27,12:00 PM ET

LONDON-- Worried about zombies? Internet users concerned about the number of virus-infected PCs ready to launch an attack over the Web can at least keep track of how afraid they should be--and satisfy their curiosity--by visiting CipherTrust Inc.'s new ZombieMeter resource. The security company added the ZombieMeter to its Web site this week, offering visitors hourly information on the global activity of new zombies by tracking data it receives through its IronMail e-mail security appliances.

Zombiesare Internet-connected computers that have been infected by malicious code that allows hackers to control them remotely. They are often used to launch denial-of service (DoS) attacks or send unwanted e-mail.

Where The Zombies Are

Although CipherTrust only monitors zombie activities based on data from its network of e-mail appliances, it counted an average of 172,009 new zombies a day for the first three weeks in May. Of these, 20 percent are in the U.S. and 15 percent in China. That represents a slight shift from late March and early April, when around 20 percent of the 157,000 new zombies it identified on average each day were in China.

The European Union, meanwhile, was a virtual hothouse for zombies, with 26 percent of new infected machines in its member states during the first three weeks of May, CipherTrust said. Six percent of these were in Germany, 5 percent in France and 3 percent in the United Kingdom, the company said.

South Korea is also a popular zombie haunt: 10 percent of new infected machines in the first few weeks of May were in that country, CipherTrust said.

While the Alpharetta, Georgia, security company said tracking zombies helps it to identify behavioral patterns and predict threats, it was unclear how the information might aid the average Internet user.

"I suppose it might increase your paranoia as a home user, or convince you to update your antivirus software," said one London-based IT manager.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; News/Current Events; Technical
KEYWORDS: dosattack; email; hacking; lowqualitycrap; microsoft; pc; remotecontrol; virus; windows; zombie

1 posted on 05/28/2005 8:47:26 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: ShadowAce

ping


2 posted on 05/28/2005 8:49:10 AM PDT by JoJo Gunn (Help control the Leftist population. Have them spayed or neutered. ©)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JoJo Gunn

http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/forums.html is the place to go. Experts will help clean your computer for free.

All malware or adware or virus taken off your computer. Stuff that Ad-aware and all other spyware software can't remove.


3 posted on 05/28/2005 8:54:57 AM PDT by soccer_linux_mozilla (I believe in the potential of Open Source software: Linux, Mozilla, Firefox, OpenOffice,etc)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: soccer_linux_mozilla
... is the place to go. Experts will help clean your computer for free.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but isn't this one of the most common ways to to suck people in to install trojan horses and zombies in the first place?

Call me paranoid.

Unless a well-known site such as McAfee or Norton's endorses, or at least verifies that the site is "for real", I wouldn't go near it!

4 posted on 05/28/2005 9:04:00 AM PDT by Publius6961 (The most abundant things in the universe are hydrogen, ignorance and stupidity.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Darksheare; Dawsonville_Doc; TASMANIANRED; Do not dub me shapka broham
PC Zombie:

(moan) "...meggggggggggggggggggs......meggggggggggggggggggs..."(groan)

5 posted on 05/28/2005 9:06:08 AM PDT by King Prout (blast and char it among fetid buzzard guts!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRooster

PC zombies are a definite threat. And it has nothing to do with computers!


6 posted on 05/28/2005 9:22:08 AM PDT by LibWhacker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRooster

I've tried to search for European proxies as a hobby, especially those that are anti-American countries as to harass a little, but some how I have been very unlikely to get some from Europe. However, it seems some people are having fun with lack of security in Europe more than I thought. Should it be my server prohibitting European proxies? Of course, I won't be using these proxies for crimes though. Interesting story.


7 posted on 05/28/2005 9:40:40 AM PDT by Wiz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRooster

Never want to be a zombie...


8 posted on 05/28/2005 9:41:09 AM PDT by Wiz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wiz

BUMP!


9 posted on 05/28/2005 10:40:36 AM PDT by Publius6961 (The most abundant things in the universe are hydrogen, ignorance and stupidity.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Publius6961

I'd say you were a tad paranoid, not full blown. ;)

The site looks similar to a couple I haunt:

http://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/index.php?s=

http://discussions.virtualdr.com/

(At the first link there's a lady named AnnMarie, and if you're lucky to get her concerning spyware problems you'll be in fine hands indeed).


10 posted on 05/28/2005 11:30:54 AM PDT by JoJo Gunn (Help control the Leftist population. Have them spayed or neutered. ©)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson