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Information about Zombie Computer

This article is about computers that have been compromised by malware. For other meanings, see Zombie (disambiguation).


A zombie computer (often abbreviated zombie) is a computer attached to the Internet that has been compromised by a Hacker, a computer virus, or a trojan horse. Generally, a compromised machine is only one of many in a "botnet", and will be used to perform malicious tasks of one sort or another under remote direction. Most owners of zombie computers are unaware that their system is being used in this way. Because the vector tends to be unconscious, these computers are metaphorically compared to a zombie.

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(1) Spammer's web site (2) Spammer (3) Spamware (4) Infected computers (5) Virus or trojan (6) Mail servers (7) Users (8) Web traffic


Zombies have been used extensively to send e-mail spam; as of 2005, an estimated 50–80% of all spam worldwide was sent by zombie computers.[1] This allows spammers to avoid detection and presumably reduces their bandwidth costs, since the owners of zombies pay for their own bandwidth.

For similar reasons zombies are also used to commit click fraud against sites displaying pay per click advertising. Others can host phishing or money mule recruiting websites.

Zombies have also conducted distributed denial of service attacks, such as the attack upon the SPEWS service in 2003, and the one against Blue Frog service in 2006. In 2000, several prominent Web sites (Yahoo, eBay, etc) were clogged to a standstill by a distributed denial of service attack mounted by a Canadian teenager. An attack on grc.com is discussed at length, and the perpetrator, a 13-year old probably from Kenosha, Wisconsin, identified on the Gibson Research Web site. Steve Gibson disassembled a 'bot' which was a zombie used in the attack, and traced it to its distributor. In his clearly written account about his research, he describes the operation of a 'bot' controlling IRC channel.[2]

References

1. ^ Tom Spring, Spam Slayer: Slaying Spam-Spewing Zombie PCs, PC World, 2005-06-20
2. ^ Steve Gibson, The Attacks on GRC.COM, Gibson Research Corporation, first: 2001-05-04, last: 2005-09-17

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Malware is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner's informed consent. It is a portmanteau of the words "malicious" and "software". The expression is a general term used by computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of hostile,
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A zombie is an undead person, or, figuratively, a very apathetic person.

Zombie may also refer to:

General

  • Philosophical zombie, or p-zombie, a hypothetical person who only appears to think and feel
  • Zombie cocktail, a mixed drink

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Internet is a worldwide, publicly accessible series of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol (IP). It is a "network of networks" that consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and government
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Hacker is someone involved in computer security/insecurity, specializing in the discovery of exploits in systems (for exploitation or prevention), or in obtaining or preventing unauthorized access to systems through skills, tactics and detailed knowledge.
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A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without permission or knowledge of the user. The original virus may modify the copies, or the copies may modify themselves, as occurs in a metamorphic virus.
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In the context of computer software, a Trojan horse is a program that installs malicious software while under the guise of doing something else. Though not limited in their payload, Trojan horses are more notorious for installing backdoor programs which allow unauthorized non
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Botnet is a jargon term for a collection of software robots, or bots, which run autonomously and automatically. They run on groups of "zombie" computers controlled remotely by crackers. This can also refer to the network of computers using distributed computing software.
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zombie is a reanimated human body devoid of consciousness. In contemporary versions these are generally undead corpses, which were traditionally called "ghouls". Stories of zombies originated in the Afro-Caribbean spiritual belief system of Vodou.
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E-mail spam, also known as bulk e-mail or junk e-mail is a subset of spam that involves sending nearly identical messages to numerous recipients by e-mail. A common synonym for spam is unsolicited bulk e-mail (UBE).
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Spamming is the abuse of electronic messaging systems to indiscriminately send unsolicited bulk messages. While the most widely recognized form of spam is e-mail spam, the term is applied to similar abuses in other media: instant messaging spam, Usenet newsgroup spam, Web search
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Click fraud is a type of internet crime that occurs in pay per click online advertising when a person, automated script, or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad, for the purpose of generating a charge per click without having actual
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Pay per click (PPC) is an advertising model used on search engines, advertising networks, and content websites/blogs, where advertisers only pay when a user actually clicks on an ad to visit the advertiser's website.
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phishing is an attempt to criminally and fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. eBay, PayPal and online banks are common targets.
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A money mule is a person who transfers money and reships high value goods that have been fraudulently obtained in one country, usually via the internet, to another country, usually where the perpetrator of the fraud lives. The term money mule is formed by analogy with drug mules.
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"DoS" redirects here. For other uses, see DOS (disambiguation).
A denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is an attempt to make a computer resource unavailable to its intended users.
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The Spam Prevention Early Warning System (SPEWS) was an anonymous service which maintained a list of IP address ranges belonging to Internet service providers (ISPs) which host spammers and show little action to prevent their abuse of other network's resources.
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Blue Frog

Developer: Blue Security
OS: Microsoft Windows
Extension for Mozilla Firefox
License: Open Source
Website: Blue Security Inc.
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Yahoo! Inc.

Public (NASDAQ:  YHOO )
Founded Santa Clara, California
(March 1, 1995)
Headquarters 701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, California, USA

Key people Jerry Yang, CEO, Chief Yahoo! and Co-founder
David Filo, Chief Yahoo! and Co-founder
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eBay Inc.

Public (NASDAQ:  EBAY )
Founded San Jose, California, USA (September 3, 1995)
Headquarters San Jose, California, USA

Key people Meg Whitman, CEO & President
Pierre Omidyar, Founder and Chairman
John Donahoe, Chief of eBay Marketplace
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Kenosha, Wisconsin
Location of Kenosha within Wisconsin
Coordinates:
Country United States
State Wisconsin
County Kenosha
Settled 1836
Government
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Steve Gibson (born March 1955) is a computer enthusiast, software engineer and security commentator based in Laguna Hills, California. Gibson founded Gibson Research Corporation in 1985, and is currently its primary of three employees.

Gibson studied EECS at UC Berkeley.
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Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a form of real-time Internet chat or synchronous conferencing. It is mainly designed for group (many-to-many) communication in discussion forums called channels, but also allows one-to-one communication and data transfers via private message.
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PC World may mean:
  • PC World (magazine), an American computer magazine
  • PC World (retailer), a British computer store chain

See also

  • Personal Computer World, an unrelated British computer magazine

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Steve Gibson (born March 1955) is a computer enthusiast, software engineer and security commentator based in Laguna Hills, California. Gibson founded Gibson Research Corporation in 1985, and is currently its primary of three employees.

Gibson studied EECS at UC Berkeley.
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