'Surge' in hijacked PC networks

[PopHistorian]

Something to be aware of, I suppose. I suspected that this had happened to a friend's computer when she experienced sudden slowdowns, activity when the system should've been quiescent, and I found some unknown, unsigned objects installed via her MSIE. I don't know enough about this to know how to prevent it.

Legions of computers doing the bidding of some hidden, centralized power reminds me of legions of people unsuspectingly doing the bidding of some hidden, centralized power.

hXXp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6465833.stm

'Surge' in hijacked PC networks

The number of computers hijacked by malicious hackers to send out spam and viruses has grown almost 30% in the last year, according to a survey.

More than six million computers world wide are now part of a "bot network", reported security firm Symantec. (Note: Of course, Symantec, as a security provider, has an interest in reporting this.)

Computer users typically do not know that their PC has been hijacked.

More than a third of all computer attacks in the second half of 2006 originated from PCs in the United States, the threat report said.

[...] Ollie Whitehouse, senior consulting services director at Symantec, said: "This rise in the number of infected computers can certainly be attributed to the rise in the online population of countries like China and Spain, in Europe. (Note: Because all the bad people live outside the US and UK?)

[...] Alfred Huger, vice president of Symantec Security Response, said online criminals appeared to be adopting more sophisticated means of "self-policing".

He added: "They're launching denial-of-service attacks on rivals' servers and posting pictures online of competitors' faces.

"It's ruthless, highly organised and highly evolved."