CSC 379 SUM2008:Week 1, Group 3

Methods

Zombie

Spam is increasingly sent from computers and users that have no idea that they are in fact sending unwarranted and sometimes illegal material to thousands of other users. An unprotected computer becomes a zombie when a virus or worm is sent not to disable or damage data on the machine but to utilize its own resources. This allows both bandwidth and processing power outside the physical mean of the individual sending the spam to output many times what one machine could produce. A zombie computer also creates spam from thousands and possibly millions of sources that is highly untraceable back to the one source of the spam for prosecution.

The term zombie is used to refer to such machines due to the fact the that local user usually has no idea that their machine is under the control of another. Typically zombie computers are used to distribute e-mail spam but can also be used to host phishing servers, performing click fraud, as well as money mule websites.

It is estimated that currently a majority of e-mail spam is now sent via zombie computers.

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Anything else?

The tactics and content of spam are continuously changing as countermeasures to combat it become more effective. Once simple advertisements, spam now comes in a wide variety of forms from phishing, to “pump and dump” stock scams, to other deceptive business offers. Examine the current nature of spam content and tactics, providing an overview of each major type of spam, a brief review of the ethical considerations each raise, and links to online resources that cite specific instances or effects of each.