Let's say you are working for a medium sized company with about 50 employees. You are all set up on a network. One of your fellow employees is surfing the Internet and sees a really interesting advertisement and decided to share that information with fellow employees.

The person downloads the graphic and sends a copy to other employees, who in turn might send it to other people. When morning comes the employees receive a report that the majority of the computers on the network are infected with and being controlled by hackers through Trojan horses obviously installed through the advertising that was downloaded and sent to other users.

The hackers are fully in control of the infected computers and are using these computers to send out millions of Spam email offering Viagra. The computers being used are called Zombies.

How many computers in the United States alone are infected for the purpose of being used as Zombies? There is no exact amount known but the estimates are that the number is into the multiple millions.

It has always been a question in the mind of many. The easiest way to stop zombie computers is for the ISP to monitor the bandwidth used by those who are connected to the Internet using that ISP. With all the programming wizards out there, why haven't Internet Service Providers [ISP] developed this monitoring ability and automatically shut off service when this operation is detected?

It seems that the Federal Trade Commission [FTC] may have the same idea and are wondering why. The FTC and other government agencies are now targeting the zombies, as it seems to target the hacker has proven futile.

It is known as malicious code, but the FTC calls it "secret software." Basically the code is installed onto user's computers based on the click of a mouse. The code that is installed opens a backdoor on the user's computer to allow access by the hacker. The remote access from parts unknown allows the hacker to execute Spam or actually host a web site used to infect other users.

If your computer becomes infected for the use of becoming a zombie, there will be no damage to your computer, but the bandwidth used by the programs being executed remotely would cause bandwidth issues and should be able to be detected.

As a user, the slowdown of speed is a sure sign you have been hijacked. The problem is many people believe this is not a computer problem but more of a connection issue. Many people will try anything to try and find out the problem, this includes purchasing additional software to try and combat the problem. The end result is normally, more memory is required to run your computer.

If you computer is running slow and often delays the execution or close of programs and web sites, you are more than likely infected with viruses and or Trojan worms.

Do yourself a favor and scan your computer. Click here to access a free PC scan through Trekblue's SpwareNuker. This is one of the more popular products presently available. Anti-Spyware software has proven to be an important part of security protection needed for your computer.

The fight against zombies is being called "Operation Spam Zombies." The FTC is sending letters to more than 3,000 ISPs around the world. The letter will urge ISP's to implement protective measures to stop the hijacking of personal computers being used to send out Spam.

This is probably what should have been done from the very begin. It seems that computer users are more vulnerable that the computer itself. Educating the user should have been the priority from the very beginning.

The staff from Enterprise Security Today wrote the following article, which can be read in full by clicking on the link provided below.

"Zombies don't pose a threat to computers, but rather to Internet connectivity," said Joe Cupano of Solsoft. "To survive, zombies must keep your computer running. The real threat is to the lost bandwidth going in and out of your computer, since zombies hijack your connection."……… For more on this topic, click the following link.
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