Just came across this SlashDot story
(http://slashdot.org/articles/03/07/11/133232.shtml) referencing a New
Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/11/technology/11HACK.htm(l)
that discusses how thousands of computers were hijacked and used for
sending porn spam. This story is also available at News.com
(http://news.com.com/2100-12_3-1024967.html). Some quotes:
--------snip----------
More than 1,000 unsuspecting Internet users around the world have recently
had their computers hijacked by hackers who computer security experts say
are using them for pornographic Web sites.
The hijacked computers, which are chosen by the hackers apparently because
they have high-speed connections to the Internet, are secretly loaded with
software that makes them send explicit Web pages advertising pornographic
sites and offer to sign visitors up as customers
The hackers operating the ring direct traffic to each hijacked computer in
their network for a few minutes at a time, quickly rotating through a large
number. Some are also used to send spam e-mail messages to boost traffic to
the sites.
By hiding behind a ring of machines, the senders can cloak their identity
while helping to solve one of the biggest problems for purveyors of
pornography and spam: getting shut down by Internet service providers who
receive complaints about the raunchy material.
The computer ring is the latest in an evolution of attacks that allow
creators of spam and illicit computer schemes to use other people's
computers as accomplices. For several years, senders of spam have relied
upon a vestigial element of the Internet mail infrastructure known as "open
relay" to use Internet servers as conduits for their spam.
As network administrators have gradually shut down the open relay networks,
spam senders have used viruses to plant similar capabilities on home and
business computers.
--------snip----------
_______________________________________________
Asrg mailing list
Asrg(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org
https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/asrg