As you might already know, spammers don’t use their own PCs to send spam emails, instead they create botnets of commandeered computers around the globe (also known as “zombies“), which can be used to relay spam, send out malicious links and even launch distributed denial-of-service attacks. So it is very important that, we understand the problem and put more effort into protecting our computers.
Financially-motivated criminals are controlling compromised zombie computers to not just launch spam campaigns, but also to steal identity and bank account information.
Sophos has published a new report, revealing the list called “dirty dozen” – the top twelve spam-relaying countries around the world.
[advt]India is in the second position in the list contributing 7.1% of the spams in the cyber wolrd. It is high time that, we install antivirus software in our computers and keep the signature updated.
The top twelve spam relaying countries for January – March 2011 are listed below.
- USA – 13.7%
- India 7.1%
- Russia 6.6%
- Brazil 6.4%
- South Korea 3.8%
- United Kingdom 3.2%
- Italy 3.1%
- France 3.1%
- Spain 2.8%
- Germany 2.6%
- Romania 2.5%
- Poland 2.3%
- Other 42.8%
Computer users must be educated about the dangers of clicking on links or attachments in spam mails – and many computers may already be under the control of cybercriminals. Businesses and computer users must take a more proactive approach to spam filtering and IT security in order to avoid adding to this global problem.
Now it is your turn to avoid your computer to become a zombie. Keep your security patches up-to-date, your anti-virus defences in place and having a good helping of common sense can help avoid your computer from being recruited by the bad guys.
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