OFT takes part in 'Spam Zombie' campaign.The OFT and law enforcement agencies A law enforcement agency (LEA) is a term used to describe any agency which enforces the law. This may be a local or state police, federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). from across the world have joined forces to focus on the problem of hackers tapping into people's home computers and using them to send millions of unsolicited spam e-mails. The OFT and its partners are launching operation' Spam Zombies' to urge Internet Service Providers Internet service provider (ISP) Company that provides Internet connections and services to individuals and organizations. For a monthly fee, ISPs provide computer users with a connection to their site (see data transmission), as well as a log-in name and password. (ISPS ISPS - Instruction Set Processor Specifications. Operational hardware specification language. Successor to ISPL. ["Instruction Set Processor Specifications", M.R. Barbacci et al, IEEE Trans Computers, C-30(1):24-80 (Jan 1981)]. ) around the world to do more to address the increasing problem of spammers hijacking hijacking Crime of seizing possession or control of a vehicle from another by force or threat of force. Although by the late 20th century hijacking most frequently involved the seizure of an airplane and its forcible diversion to destinations chosen by the air pirates, when other computers. Once these computers have been hijacked by the spammers' software they are known as 'zombies' and can be used to bombard bom·bard tr.v. bom·bard·ed, bom·bard·ing, bom·bards 1. To attack with bombs, shells, or missiles. 2. To assail persistently, as with requests. See Synonyms at attack, barrage2. 3. other consumers with spam e-mails without the computer owners 'knowledge. By using this trick the spammers keep their identity secret from the recipients of the spam and from the authorities trying to track them down. A total of 34 agencies from around the world, including the OFF and its partners in the London Action Plan will mount a cross-border initiative contacting ISPs and requesting that they implement security measures to protect their customers' computers. These measures include: --identifying computers that are sending unusual amounts of e-mail and taking steps to determine if the computer Is acting as a spam zombie and, if necessary, quarantining the affected computer until the source of the problem is removed --providing plain-language information for customers on how to keep their home computers secure --providing or pointing their customers to easy-to-use tools to remove zombie A computer that has been covertly taken over in order to perform some nefarious task. It is estimated that millions of PCs around the world have been compromised and, under the control of a third party, routinely transmit messages unbeknownst to the user. code if their computers become infected. The next phase of the operation will be to identify likely spam zombies around the world and the providers that operate the networks that are hosting them. The partners will then notify these providers of the problem and urge them to implement corrective measures. www.oft.gov.uk |
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