30-05-2007, 08:04 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Malaysia
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The Star Online : TechCentral - Malaysia Technology
Quote:
Tuesday April 10, 2007
Survey: Most Malaysian PCs are 'zombies'
By JO TIMBUONG
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is one of the most prolific distributors of spam and propagators of "spam zombies" in the Asia-Pacific region, revealed a recent survey.
It ranks No 5 as a spam distributor, among 29 countries. Topping this list is the Philippines, followed by Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and Laos, according to the survey by security solutions vendor Symantec Corp.
As a propagator of zombie machines, Malaysia is No 7 on the list. Topping it is China, followed by South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam.
These are PCs that have been compromised by hackers and used to launch spam e-mail, or phishing messages that lure computer users to mistakenly reveal personal information such as credit card details or bank account passwords.
Kannan Velayutham, a consultant for enterprise security at Symantec Malaysia, said the survey showed that 96% of computers in the country are zombie machines.
He said a large chunk of these machines are concentrated in the capital, where many PC users have broadband Internet access.
"These infected PCs are also linked into bot-nets – networks of multiple zombie machines – that help cybercriminals search for and accumulate confidential personal information more efficiently," said Kannan.
According to the survey, stolen personal information can also be sold on the black market; prices vary according to the type of information.
An online banking account with a US$10,000 (RM35,000) balance is worth US$300 (RM1,100), for example. A verified PayPal account, meanwhile, would fetch between US$50 and US$500 (RM175 and RM1,750).
Symantec also found that 84% of all e-mail messages originating from Malaysia is spam. In comparison, 86% of electronic messages coming from the Philippines are those annoying, unsolicited missives.
This and the high number of zombie machines in Malaysia is tarnishing the country's image.
One reason for the problem, the survey showed, is because new broadband Internet users in the country are generally unaware of the security precautions they need to take to safeguard their personal information and online identities.
Another reason is the widespread use of pirated software by local PC users, said the Symantec survey.
It said copies of pirated software sometimes contained trojans and other hidden malicious programs, and these are surrepticiously planted into computer systems when users installed the software.
After installation, the machines become part of a bot-net without the user's knowledge, said Symantec.
In this age of PCs permanently connected to the Web via high-speed connections, users need to be more cautious.
An antivirus program is not enough, said Symantec. Users need a security solution that combines antivirus, firewall and intrusion detection capabilities.
PC users are also advised not to view, open or execute any e-mail attachment unless it is expected or its purpose known to the recipient.
"Some spam messages come with pictures attached to fool spam filters; be careful of these," said Kannan.
Computer users should also be careful about disclosing confidential, personal or financial information online unless they know that the request for such is legitimate, cautioned Symantec.
The survey, conducted between July and December last year, involved Symantec setting up two million decoy e-mail accounts worldwide.
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