* The possibilities for computer zombies are frightening
Home computers with an always-on broadband connection can fairly easily be compromised with a worm or Trojan horse that can turn them into “zombies” – computers that can be used by spammers to generate enormous amounts of spam.
Some estimate that as much as 80% of all spam is currently generated by zombies. Part of the reason home computers can so easily be compromised is that home users often are not as vigilant as corporate IT departments about maintaining firewalls, updating virus signatures and carrying out other security measures. Spammers know this and have found an easy way to send out huge amounts of spam virtually undetected. These networks are often rented out to spammers for “marketing” campaigns.
So what’s next for zombies? One frightening possibility is the distribution of child pornography or other illegal or highly objectionable content, possibly not for profit but simply for malice. Doing so would not be all that difficult. For example, in late 2004 every office in the Italian senate was infected with a variant of the Rbot worm which displayed hardcore gay pornography on a large number of computers in the senate offices. A report in Canada’s “Globe and Mail” cites the ease with which child pornography could be distributed via zombies in an attempt to shield its distributors.
The real danger for unsuspecting owners of these zombie computers is that laws in the U.S. and elsewhere make it illegal to possess child pornography, even if the possessor had no knowledge of its existence on his or her computer. Under U.S. Code Title 18, anyone whose computer contains such files, regardless of intent, has committed a felony and is subject to five years in prison. This includes zombie victims, anyone who has had a pop-up window with illegal content appear on-screen, and so forth. The rapid growth in IM-borne malware will simply exacerbate the problem, particularly given the widespread use of consumer instant-messaging clients in the enterprise.
The call to action for any home computer user or any IT department is to be vigilant in scanning computers for viruses and the like, updating virus signatures regularly, monitoring and controlling IM use and so forth. Not to do so is to make yourself vulnerable to the worst garbage that spammers and criminals have to send your way.
