Search Engine Optimisation, Promotion and Internet Marketing

Soaring numbers of PCs recruited for spam and viruses

22 September 2004

More than 30,000 PCs a day are being added to secret networks used to spread spam and computer viruses, according to a new study.

Symantec's biannual Internet Threat Report reveals that the numbers of PCs being recruited is growing rapidly. The firm's last report estimated that only around 2,000 Windows machines per day were being recruited to the so-called bot nets.

Older machines are more vulnerable to attack by people using the remotely controlled networks for lucrative hacking and virus writing, according to Symantec.

Nigel Beighton, a member of Symantec's Threat Team, said the peak of new recruits for secret networks was 75,000 in one day during the peak of the MyDoom and Bagle viruses.

"The key challenge for Microsoft is not XP users, it's the Windows 98 and 95 machines," Mr Beighton added. "Getting those people to upgrade and improve their security is going to make the difference."

The survey also showed that vulnerabilities are now exploited in an average of 5.8 days, 1,237 vulnerabilities came to light in the first six months of 2004 and 95 per cent were rated very severe or above. 4,496 Windows viruses were detected in the first six months of 2004, four and a half times as many as in 2003, with Latvia, Macau and Israel named as the top three sources of attacks.

Apply for your free web assessment - get a complete health check and optimisation action plan from Weboptimiser, the experts.

Leading brand search engine marketing since 1996

Founded in 1996 as an SEO company, Weboptimiser is today one of the Internet marketing sector's best-known and most respected search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay per click (PPC) search engine marketing companies.

With a unique portfolio of brand-friendly services, including usability, contextual advertising and web analytics, a pioneering methodology that covers all 4 stages of interaction between a web site and its visitors, we make our clients sites faster, smarter, busier and more profitable.