Exhibit #1:
Zombie PCs spew out 80% of spam
,----[ Quote ]
| Four-fifths of spam now emanates from computers
| contaminated with Trojan horse infections,
| according to a study by network management
| firm Sandvine out this week. Trojans and worms
| with backdoor components such as Migmaf and
| SoBig have turned infected Windows PCs into
| drones in vast networks of compromised zombie PCs.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/04/trojan_spam_study/
Exhibit #2:
Over 90% of email is spam, says Spamhaus founder
,----[ Quote ]
| "If we were to turn our service off one
| day then the spam levels on the internet
| would literally bring the internet email
| system down," he said.
`----
http://legalit.itproportal.com/?p=299
Corollary:
#1 x #2 = 80% x 90%+ = ~72%+
Over 72% of of the world's E-mail traffic is produced by Windows zombies. It
makes you think...
Less conservative studies which were published by the BBC and CNET
(respectively):
More than 95% of e-mail is 'junk'
,----[ Quote ]
| More than 95% of e-mail is junk, be it spam, error messages or
| viruses, report mail monitoring firms.
|
| [...]
|
| Further work has shown that most of this junk mail is originating
| on hijacked home computers.
|
| E-mail security firm Return Path said 99% of the computers it monitors
| that send mail have been taken over by spammers or virus writers.
`----
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5219554.stm
,----[ Quote ]
| Nearly all of the Internet-connected computers that send e-mail
| are controlled by spammers, according to companies that track
| e-mail reputations.
`----
http://news.com.com/2100-7349_3-6098447.html?part=rss&tag=6098447&subj=news
The world is getting fed up with the increasing amount.
Homeland Security: Fix your Windows
,----[ Quote ]
| In a rare alert, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has urged
| Windows users to plug a potential worm hole in the Microsoft
| operating system.
|
| [...]
|
| "Users are encouraged to avoid delay in applying this security patch,"
| the Department of Homeland Security said in the statement. The patch
| fixes a serious flaw that, if exploited, could enable an attacker to
| remotely take complete control of an affected system, the agency said.
`----
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6103805.html
Perspective: Microsoft security--no more second chances?
,----[ Excerpt ]
| CNET News.com's Charles Cooper says the software maker is running out
| of excuses for a history of poor security.
`----
,----[ Quote ]
| As if Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff didn't have enough on
| his plate.
|
| Not only has he had to deal with Katrina and Osama. Now he's also got to
| whip Steve Ballmer and the crew at Microsoft into shape. If past is
| prologue, that last task may be the most daunting of all.
`----
http://news.com.com/2010-1002_3-6104512.html?part=rss&tag=6104512&subj=news
Why thus discussion about SPAM all out of the blue? Because hundreds of
megabytes of SPAM fill up my account more quickly than I can erase it while
benign messages that I send to people get intercepted. The E-mail
infrastrcuture has become flakier and less reliable than ever before. It
fell victim to Microsoft Windows. It's time to go Open Source. [end rant /]
|
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