Warning: Spammers could be seizing your PC

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Warning: Spammers could be seizing your PC

Robert Vamosi
Senior Editor, Reviews
Monday, May 26, 2003

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In Dan Simmons's award-winning Hyperion science-fiction series, he writes about a universe in which humans physically travel vast distances of time and space almost instantaneously. In exchange for this amazing ability, the TechnoCore, a group of artificial intelligences, is able to use the tremendous processing power of the human mind for its own purposes.

I mention this because Simmons created a powerful metaphor for what is happening on the Internet today. The New York Times recently reported that as many as 200,000 computers worldwide have been recruited to send out spam--unbeknownst to their owners.

So, in exchange for being able to go online, we're allowing spammers to use a portion of our computers' processing power, much like Simmons's TechnoCore used the population's brainpower. Fortunately, there are some simple measures you can take to stop spammers from using your system to send out junk e-mail.

WHY ARE SPAMMERS using your computer? To find a way around current spam-blocking procedures. Most people block e-mail message based on the point of origin. So, once a spammer is known, his messages will be blocked from your inbox. But if a known spammer uses other computers to do his dirty work, his e-mails have a better chance of making it through our defenses.

To get access to your system, spammers have taken a page from malicious computer users, by using what are known as open proxy servers.

Proxy servers allow a computer to connect to the Internet indirectly, by sending its Internet requests through another computer that is online. Thus, any attempt to trace an e-mail or hostile Internet connection back to its origin would point to that second, proxy computer.

Proxies have many legitimate and safe uses. When configured correctly, for example, they can allow several people to share one Internet connection at home or in a small office. But, when configured to allow open access to anyone on the Internet, they become a security nightmare. Malicious users exploit these so-called "open proxies" to mask their true identity when committing crimes. Now spammers are taking advantage of this anonymity as well.

THIS IS WHERE your computer comes in. A new computer worm, which disguises itself as an e-mail from Microsoft technical support, installs proxy servers on infected PCs without the user's knowledge. It's known as Palyh, Mankx, or SoBig.B.

What can be done to stop this pest? First, make sure your computer is protected by a firewall. While firewalls can't fix security vulnerabilities on every PC, they do reduce the likelihood that remote users will be able to hijack your computer.

I believe Internet service providers, especially those that offer broadband, should be required to provide firewall software to their customers. This was a provision of the original National Strategy to Protect Cyberspace, but didn't make it into the final draft signed by President Bush.

IF YOUR ISP doesn't offer firewall protection, you can install a software firewall on your PC. This, in addition to the hardware firewall in your router, will prevent unauthorized incoming and outgoing activity on your computer.

Second, make sure you have antivirus software installed on your PC, to prevent Palyh and similar worms from co-opting your system.

In Simmons's universe, humans decide to forego faster-than-light travel, rather than give the TechnoCore access to their brainpower. But I'm betting we won't all unplug from the Net just to stop spammers. Instead, make sure you and everyone you know takes the proper precautions, by using antivirus software and firewalls. We may not be able to stop spammers, but we should be able to slow them down.

Are you worried about spammers taking over your PC? Is your computer protected with a firewall and antivirus software? Why or not? TalkBack to me!

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