OFT takes part in 'spam zombie' campaign

98/05 25 May 2005

The OFT and law enforcement agencies from across the world (see note 1) have joined forces to focus on the problem of hackers tapping into people's home computers and using them to send millions of unsolicited spam e-mails.

The OFT and its partners are launching operation 'Spam Zombies' to urge Internet Service Providers (ISPs) around the world to do more to address the increasing problem of spammers hijacking other computers.

Once these computers have been hijacked by the spammers' software they are known as 'zombies' and can be used to bombard other consumers with spam e-mails without the computer owners' knowledge. By using this trick the spammers keep their identity secret from the recipients of the spam and from the authorities trying to track them down.

A total of 34 agencies from around the world, including the OFT and its partners in the London Action Plan (see note 2) will mount a cross-border initiative contacting ISPs and requesting that they 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
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 partners will then notify these providers of the problem and urge them to implement corrective measures.

Sir John Vickers, OFT Chairman, said: '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. 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.'

NOTES

1. These include the Federal Trade Commission, Department of Commerce, Department of Homeland Security in the USA, and agencies from Albania, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Lithuania, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Peru, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and Taiwan.

2. The London Action Plan draws together government agencies and private sector organisations in 21 countries and aims to encourage communication and coordination between members to achieve efficient and effective enforcement of anti-spam laws. See press release 168/04 of 12 October 2004.

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