Zombie (computing)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This article is about the term "zombie" in computer security. For "zombie" in UNIX programming, see Zombie process.

In

DDoS attack by multiple botnet machines also resembles a "zombie horde attack", as depicted in fictional zombie films
.

(1) Spammer's web site (2) Spammer (3) Spamware (4) Infected computers (5) Virus or trojan (6) Mail servers (7) Users (8) Web traffic

Advertising

Zombie computers have been used extensively to send

spammers to avoid detection and presumably reduces their bandwidth costs, since the owners of zombies pay for their own bandwidth. This spam also greatly increases the spread of Trojan horses, as Trojans are not self-replicating. They rely on the movement of e-mails or spam to grow, whereas worms can spread by other means.[3] For similar reasons, zombies are also used to commit click fraud against sites displaying pay-per-click advertising. Others can host phishing or money mule
recruiting websites.

Distributed denial-of-service attacks

Zombies can be used to conduct

distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, a term which refers to the orchestrated flooding of target websites by large numbers of computers at once. The large number of Internet users making simultaneous requests of a website's server is intended to result in crashing and the prevention of legitimate users from accessing the site.[4] A variant of this type of flooding is known as distributed degradation-of-service. Committed by "pulsing" zombies, distributed degradation-of-service is the moderated and periodical flooding of websites intended to slow down rather than crash a victim site. The effectiveness of this tactic springs from the fact that intense flooding can be quickly detected and remedied, but pulsing zombie attacks and the resulting slow-down in website access can go unnoticed for months and even years.[5]

The computing facilitated by the Internet of Things (IoT) has been productive for modern-day usage, yet it has played a significant role in the increase in web attacks. The potential of IoT enables every device to communicate efficiently, but this also intensifies the need for policy enforcement regarding security threats. Among these threats, Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks are prevalent. Research has been conducted to study the impact of such attacks on IoT networks and to develop compensating provisions for defense.[6] Consultation services specialized in IoT security, such as those offered by IoT consulting firms, play a vital role in devising comprehensive strategies to safeguard IoT ecosystems from cyber threats.

Notable incidents of distributed denial- and degradation-of-service attacks in the past include the attack upon the

MafiaBoy
', a Canadian teenager.

Smartphones

Beginning in July 2009, similar botnet capabilities have also emerged for the growing

Etisalat BlackBerry spyware program. In the 2010s, the security community is divided as to the real world potential of mobile botnets. But in an August 2009 interview with The New York Times, cyber security consultant Michael Gregg summarized the issue this way: "We are about at the point with [smart]phones that we were with desktops in the '80s."[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Zombie - Port Security". August 3, 2021.
  2. ^ Tom Spring (June 20, 2005). "Spam Slayer: Slaying Spam-Spewing Zombie PCs". PC World. Archived from the original on July 16, 2017. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  3. ISBN 978-0-7656-1748-4
    .
  4. ISBN 978-0-13-233385-6
    .
  5. ISBN 1-85109-731-7
    .
  6. S2CID 52924506
    .
  7. New York Times. Archived
    from the original on July 16, 2017. Retrieved July 16, 2017.

External links
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