IT News and Information Blog

Global Spam Network Stopped  17.03.2010

A global spamming network, responsible for sending over 1.5 billion spam messages a day, has been closed by a senior American judge's court order and actions by Microsoft.

The spam was sent by unknowing computer users whose personal computers had been infected with a virus and hijacked. These hijacked computers were remotely controlled by criminals from their "command and control" centres.

Although Microsoft has shutdown the network and the criminals' control centres, thousands of computers will still be infected with their malware. Anyone using MSN, hotmail or other email applications should run anti-virus software to remove the viruses from their computers.

(Malware is a general term describing software, such as viruses, worms etc. installed by criminals or hackers for malicious or criminal reasons.)

277 internet domains were used to control the network, called the Waledac botnet. Finally, these domains were shut down after an investigation lasting many months, Microsoft's actions and the court order.

Spam is responsible for over 80% of all Internet traffic, using up precious bandwidth. The proliferation of spam harms companies, internet service providers and users by increasing download time and money. Further, when an unknowing user's computer is compromised and made to secretly send spam, the computer will run much slower and the user risks being 'cut off' by their Internet Service Provider.