Ian Hilliard wrote:
> billwg wrote:
>
>> Ian Hilliard wrote:
>>> billwg wrote:
>>>
>>>> Another rim shot, ian, that shows a lack of timing! Hundreds of
>>>> millions of happy people web surf with Windows every day and well into
>>>> the night. You can snivel and SAY that Windows is not up to the task,
>>>> but even the rebels who are said to be using Firefox are using it on
>>>> Windows for the most part.
>>>>
>>> ...and millions are getting b0rk3d every day. Their machines are being
>>> taken over by some criminal so that it can be used for extortion or spam
>>> distribution. These people have been conned into believing that it is
>>> simply part and parcel of computing in the modern age.
>>>
>> Do you really believe that? I think you are mistaken. You read these
>> stories that are unsubstantiated by anyone else and you want to believe
>> because that makes your forlorn quest more noble, but they seem to be
>> urban legends
Microsoft disagrees with you:
.----
| More than 60 percent of compromised Windows PCs scanned by
| Microsoft's Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool between January
| 2005 and March 2006 were found to be running malicious bot software,
| the company said.
`----
- http://tinyurl.com/kp5rz (news.com)
.----
| 'Bot herders' may have controlled 1.5 million PCs
|
| Dutch suspects face stiffer sentence after investigators find
| evidence that their "zombie network" was bigger than initially
| thought.
|
| By Joris Evers
| Staff Writer, CNET News.com
| Published: October 21, 2005, 12:42 PM PDT
|
| Three suspected Dutch cybercriminals could face a stiffer penalty
| with new evidence that they hacked about 1.5 million PCs worldwide,
| more than 15 times the original estimate.
|
| The three individuals, whose names have not been disclosed, were
| arrested two weeks ago on suspicion of commandeering more than
| 100,000 PCs. They allegedly gained control over the systems with a
| Trojan horse called Toxbot and used the network of zombie PCs to
| steal credit card numbers and other personal data, and to blackmail
| online businesses.
|
| But the number of PCs hijacked is much larger than initially thought,
| Dutch prosecutors said Thursday. Additional data gathered by the
| Dutch Computer Emergency Response Team and Internet service providers
| indicates that more than 1.5 million PCs were involved, 30,000 of
| which were in the Netherlands.
|
| ...
|
| Networks of hijacked computers, known as botnets, are considered one
| of the most serious security threats on the Internet. While the
| dismantled botnet is one of the largest ever seen, the takedown is
| merely a drop in the bucket, experts have said.
|
| Botnets are often rented out by their owners, called bot herders, to
| relay spam and launch phishing scams to steal sensitive personal data
| for fraud. Botnets have also been used in blackmail schemes, where
| the criminals threaten online businesses with a denial-of-service
| attack to extort money. A denial-of-service attack would disable a
| targeted Web site.
`----
- http://tinyurl.com/zvevy (news.com)
So much for your "Urban Legend" theory.
Looks like the only "forlorn quest" round here, is trying to secure your
Swiss Cheese Windows Operating System.
You may now return to your Trojan-infested, Windows powered, La La Land.
> I realize that you probably have an alterer motive for keeping the status
> quo.
Come on now, you don't seriously think that Microsoft pays him to tell
the *Truth*, do you?
Either that or he's some grossly delusional Botnet/spam denialist. Then
again, surely that's exactly the kind of Astroturfers Microsoft wants to
hire.
--
K.
http://slated.org - Slated, Rated & Blogged
.----
| Another name for a Windows tutorial is "crash course".
`----
Fedora Core release 5 (Bordeaux) on sky, running kernel 2.6.16-1.2133_FC5
19:33:42 up 110 days, 19:50, 2 users, load average: 0.81, 0.38, 0.42
|
|
