Governments target spam zombies

By remotely using the infected PC – or networks of them – spammers are able to keep their identity secret from the recipients of the spam and the authorities trying to track them down.

The UK's Office of Fair Trading, the US Federal Trade Commission and 32 other agencies from around the world hope to tackle the problem through Operation Spam Zombies, a cross-border initiative that will involve contacting 3,000 ISPs and urging them to 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; and
• providing or pointing their customers to easy-to-use tools to remove zombie 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 agencies, all of which are partners in the London Action Plan, launched last year to co-ordinate the enforcement of anti-spam laws, will then notify these providers of the problem and urge them to implement corrective measures.

"This is the latest phase of the international effort by the members of the London Action Plan to tackle the problem of unsolicited spam e-mails," said Sir John Vickers, OFT Chairman. "Spam is often the channel for scams and viruses. This operation aims to work with ISPs and the computer and communications industry to protect consumers from spam."