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Spamming is the use of messaging systems to send multiple unsolicited messages (spam) to large numbers of recipients for the purpose of commercial advertising, for the purpose of non-commercial proselytizing, for any prohibited purpose, or simply repeatedly sending the same message to the same user. While the most widely recognized form of spam is email spam, the term is applied to similar abuses in other media: instant messaging spam, Usenet newsgroup spam, Web search engine spam, spam in blogs, wiki spam, online classified ads spam, mobile phone messaging spam, Internet forum spam, junk fax transmissions, social spam, spam mobile apps, television advertising and file sharing spam. It is named after Spam, a luncheon meat, by way of a Monty Python sketch about a restaurant that has Spam in almost every dish in which Vikings annoyingly sing "Spam" repeatedly.
Email spam, also referred to as junk email, spam mail, or simply spam, is unsolicited messages sent in bulk by email (spamming). The name comes from a Monty Python sketch in which the name of the canned pork product Spam is ubiquitous, unavoidable, and repetitive. Email spam has steadily grown since the early 1990s, and by 2014 was estimated to account for around 90% of total email traffic.
Bagle was a mass-mailing computer worm affecting Microsoft Windows. The first strain, Bagle.A, did not propagate widely. A second variant, Bagle.B, was considerably more virulent.
In computing, a zombie is a computer connected to the Internet that has been compromised by a hacker via a computer virus, computer worm, or trojan horse program and can be used to perform malicious tasks under the remote direction of the hacker. Zombie computers often coordinate together in a botnet controlled by the hacker, and are used for activities such as spreading e-mail spam and launching distributed denial-of-service attacks against web servers. Most victims are unaware that their computers have become zombies. The concept is similar to the zombie of Haitian Voodoo folklore, which refers to a corpse resurrected by a sorcerer via magic and enslaved to the sorcerer's commands, having no free will of its own. A coordinated DDoS attack by multiple botnet machines also resembles a "zombie horde attack", as depicted in fictional zombie films.
A botnet is a group of Internet-connected devices, each of which runs one or more bots. Botnets can be used to perform Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks, steal data, send spam, and allow the attacker to access the device and its connection. The owner can control the botnet using command and control (C&C) software. The word "botnet" is a portmanteau of the words "robot" and "network". The term is usually used with a negative or malicious connotation.
A spambot is a computer program designed to assist in the sending of spam. Spambots usually create accounts and send spam messages with them. Web hosts and website operators have responded by banning spammers, leading to an ongoing struggle between them and spammers in which spammers find new ways to evade the bans and anti-spam programs, and hosts counteract these methods.
On Internet usage, an email bomb is a form of net abuse that sends large volumes of email to an address to overflow the mailbox, overwhelm the server where the email address is hosted in a denial-of-service attack or as a smoke screen to distract the attention from important email messages indicating a security breach.
The Storm botnet or Storm worm botnet was a remotely controlled network of "zombie" computers that had been linked by the Storm Worm, a Trojan horse spread through e-mail spam. At its height in September 2007, the Storm botnet was running on anywhere from 1 million to 50 million computer systems, and accounted for 8% of all malware on Microsoft Windows computers. It was first identified around January 2007, having been distributed by email with subjects such as "230 dead as storm batters Europe," giving it its well-known name. The botnet began to decline in late 2007, and by mid-2008 had been reduced to infecting about 85,000 computers, far less than it had infected a year earlier.
Srizbi BotNet is considered one of the world's largest botnets, and responsible for sending out more than half of all the spam being sent by all the major botnets combined. The botnets consist of computers infected by the Srizbi trojan, which sent spam on command. Srizbi suffered a massive setback in November 2008 when hosting provider Janka Cartel was taken down; global spam volumes reduced up to 93% as a result of this action.
The Mega-D, also known by its alias of Ozdok, is a botnet that at its peak was responsible for sending 32% of spam worldwide.
The Rustock botnet was a botnet that operated from around 2006 until March 2011.
The Cutwail botnet, founded around 2007, is a botnet mostly involved in sending spam e-mails. The bot is typically installed on infected machines by a Trojan component called Pushdo. It affects computers running Microsoft Windows.
The Grum botnet, also known by its alias Tedroo and Reddyb, was a botnet mostly involved in sending pharmaceutical spam e-mails. Once the world's largest botnet, Grum can be traced back to as early as 2008. At the time of its shutdown in July 2012, Grum was reportedly the world's third largest botnet, responsible for 18% of worldwide spam traffic.
Waledac, also known by its aliases Waled and Waledpak, was a botnet mostly involved in e-mail spam and malware. In March 2010 the botnet was taken down by Microsoft.
The Asprox botnet, also known by its aliases Badsrc and Aseljo, is a botnet mostly involved in phishing scams and performing SQL injections into websites in order to spread malware. It is a highly infectious malware which spreads through an email or through a clone website. It can be used to trace any kind of personal or financial information and activities online.
The Lethic Botnet is a botnet consisting of an estimated 210 000 - 310 000 individual machines which are mainly involved in pharmaceutical and replica spam.
The Bredolab botnet, also known by its alias Oficla, was a Russian botnet mostly involved in viral e-mail spam. Before the botnet was eventually dismantled in November 2010 through the seizure of its command and control servers, it was estimated to consist of millions of zombie computers.
The Kelihos botnet, also known as Hlux, is a botnet mainly involved in spamming and the theft of bitcoins.
Festi is a rootkit and a botnet also known by its alias of Spamnost, and is mostly involved in email spam and denial of service attacks. It works under operating systems of the Windows family. Autumn of 2009 was the first time Festi came into the view of the companies engaged in the development and sale of antivirus software. At this time it was estimated that the botnet itself consisted of roughly 25.000 infected machines, while having a spam volume capacity of roughly 2.5 billion spam emails a day. Festi showed the greatest activity in 2011-2012. More recent estimates - dated August 2012 - display that the botnet is sending spam from 250,000 unique IP addresses, a quarter of the total amount of one million detected IP's sending spam mails. The main functionality of botnet Festi is spam sending and implementation of cyberattacks like "distributed denial of service".
References
- ↑ "Donbot". M86 Security. April 20, 2009. Retrieved July 30, 2010.
- 1 2 Stewart, Joe (2009-01-13). "Spam Botnets to Watch in 2009 | Dell SecureWorks". Secureworks.com. Dell. Archived from the original on 2010-11-30. Retrieved 2014-01-09.
- ↑ Aharon Etengoff (August 28, 2009). "Nefarious Donbot spews URL-shortened spam". TG Daily. Retrieved July 30, 2010. "'Donbot' launches pump-and-dump run > Botnet > Vulnerabilities & Exploits > News > SC Magazine Australia/NZ". Securecomputing.net.au. Archived from the original on August 29, 2010. Retrieved July 30, 2010.
- ↑ "The top 10 spam botnets: New and improved | 10 Things | TechRepublic.com". Blogs.techrepublic.com.com. February 25, 2010. Archived from the original on August 29, 2012. Retrieved July 30, 2010.
- ↑ "Rustock - The King of All Other Botnets". SPAMfighter. January 1, 1990. Retrieved July 30, 2010.
- ↑ "The top 10 'most wanted' spam-spewing botnets". Networkworld.com. Archived from the original on October 12, 2012. Retrieved July 30, 2010.
- ↑ Shaun Nichols in San Francisco. "Botnet begins social networking spam run - V3.co.uk - formerly vnunet.com". V3.co.uk. Retrieved July 30, 2010.
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