FTC Takes Aim Against Spam Zombies

[Abby_Normal]

Any idea how they are going to get this to work? How will they be sure they are blocking the right people? Will there be an appeal process?

Personaly, I think my plan to do away with spam by making it legal to hunt and kill spammers would work much better.

http://www.toptechnews.com/news/FTC-...d=12100CABGTXV

FTC Takes Aim Against Spam Zombies

In an effort to stamp out unsolicited e-mail, the Federal Trade Commission Latest News about Federal Trade Commission is seeking to bring together ISPs and other countries for a massive antispam effort.

The FTC is targeting "zombie" networks, which are basically the machines of unwitting users that are used to launch spam campaigns. Zombie networks account for about 50 to 80 percent of all spam, according to news reports.

The commission noted that it is asking 3,000 ISPs around the world to develop better monitoring systems for detecting hijacked computers.

Zombie Killing

Because home users often lack the technological savvy needed to recognize and fight spammers, the FTC is concentrating its appeal on ISPs, asking the providers to watch for computers that send out unusually high amounts of e-mail and quarantine them.

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So far, about 25 other countries have agreed to participate in the FTC's campaign, including the UK, Canada, Japan, Ireland and Taiwan.

One potential challenge for the new effort might be the lack of participation from China. Some experts have noted that the rise in computer use there has sparked a large amount of zombie networks.

Security Issue

Although spam has become a nuisance on a global scale, the problem is more serious than helping users keep from being annoyed, said Microsoft's Latest News about Microsoft Internet safety enforcement attorney Aaron Kornblum.

"Spam is serious for a number of reasons," he said. "For example, it compromises system security Latest News about Security, or could shut down a business through an e-mail flood."

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Also at issue is the quickly spreading growth of fraud. Spammers excel at offering counterfeit products, including software, electronics and prescription medication.

"If you have someone fooled into taking counterfeit medicine because of spam, that's definitely cause for concern," said Kornblum.

All Together

Because of spam's reach, initiatives like that launched by the FTC are vital for stopping the problem, Kornblum added.

"No company or single government entity is going to be able to stop spam alone," he said. "It's going to take partnerships between governments, companies, and ISPs to really put any kind of dent in the proliferation of unsolicited mail."

[hackajar]

ISP's don't really understand their role it the big scheme of things. Do we be Internet police, or do we let any traffic go though? Do we hold a high security posture, or do we react to specific situations.

You would think with the bandwidth that's "lost revenue in the billions" would motivate ISP's to be more firm with infected clients. Of course, if they block them, can they handle the load of calls to report Internet problems?

[klepto]

Of course, if they block them, can they handle the load of calls to report Internet problems?

Why not? They're already saving money by routing all of their calls to Bob in India

[hackajar]

Why not? They're already saving money by routing all of their calls to Bob in India

Suppose you could do a cost analysis of fake dollars lost to bandwidth usage to accually staffing an Indian call center to explain to customers that they suck at computer security

[Voltage Spike]

Suppose you could do a cost analysis of fake dollars lost to bandwidth usage to accually staffing an Indian call center to explain to customers that they suck at computer security

It would seem that in 99% of these cases, the ISPs could disable specific funtionality (e.g., specific ports) without the customer ever knowing. No calls and no lost bandwidth.

[[Syntax]]

Simplicity Vrs Security

Well from my experience, most ISP's try to keep things overly simple for thier customers. Most dont even require pop3-auth before use of the smtp. Ive seen some ISPs who do require pop first sending registry files to customers so users can configure outlook with a sinple click.

I think part of the problem is more about simplicity than security. The average computer user is simple minded not security minded.

Recently though 2wire, the manufacturer for wifi/routers that SBC supplies with DSL started shipping them preconfigured with WEP enabled. The WEP key is printed on a sticker beneath the router. At least someone is taking a step in the right direction.

People like to take crap out of the box, plug it in and use it without reading the instructions. Thus the need for RTFM.

[hackajar]

Wow that's the most initive I've seen ever for a residential vendor! And they even go one step further and have dynamic (it would seem by discription) WEP keys as well! 2wire eh? I'll have to check them out.