Zombie trick expected to send spam sky-high

Found on CNet News on Wednesday, 02 February 2005
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According to the SpamHaus Project--a U.K.-based antispam compiler of blacklists that block 8 billion messages a day--a new piece of malicious software has been created that takes over a PC. This "zombie" computer is then used to send spam via the mail server of that PC's Internet service provider. This means the junk mail appears to come from the ISP, making it very hard for an antispam blacklist to block it.

ISPs in the United States may have already been hit. "We've seen a surge in spam coming from major ISPs. Now all of the ISPs are having large amounts of spam going out from their mail servers," Linford said.

Linford predicts that ISPs will see a growth in the volume of bulk mail they send and receive over the next two months, with spam levels rising from 75 percent of all e-mail to around 95 percent within a year.

It never ceases to amaze me that spam actually works. People always complain, yet enough buy the advertised crap. Obviously, trying to block the spam itself doesn't work, so other approaches should be tried. Banks could join too and track the money. With a little change of their TOS, it would be possible to freeze bank accounts of spammers and the advertising companies. This would hurt them more than a few blocked emails.