FBI tries to fight zombie hordes*

The vast majority of hijacked computers are Windows PCs

The FBI is contacting more than one million PC owners who have had their
computers hijacked by cyber criminals.

The initiative is part of an ongoing project to thwart the use of
hijacked home computers, or zombies, as launch platforms for hi-tech crimes.

The FBI has found networks of zombie computers being used to spread
spam, steal IDs and attack websites.

The agency said the zombies or bots were "a growing threat to national
security".

Signs of trouble

The FBI has been trying to tackle networks of zombies for some time as
part of an initiative it has dubbed Operation Bot Roast.

This operation recently passed a significant milestone as it racked up
more than one million individually identifiable computers known to be
part of one bot net or another.

The law enforcement organisation said that part of the operation
involved notifying people who owned PCs it knew were part of zombie or
bot networks. In this way it said it expected to find more evidence of
how they are being used by criminals.

"The majority of victims are not even aware that their computer has been
compromised or their personal information exploited," said James Finch,
assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division.

Many people fall victim by opening an attachment on an e-mail message
containing a virus or by visiting a booby-trapped webpage.

Many hi-tech criminals are now trying to subvert innocent webpages to
act as proxies for their malicious programs.

Spam in e-mail inbox, BBC

Many bots are used to send out junk mail or spam

Once hijacked, PCs can be used to send out spam, spread spyware or as
repositories for illegal content such as pirated movies or pornography.

Those in charge of botnets, called botherders, can have tens of
thousands of machines under their control.

Operation Bot Roast has resulted in the arrest of three people known to
have used bot nets for criminal ends.

One of those arrested, Robert Alan Soloway, could face 65 years in jail
if found guilty of all the crimes with which he has been charged.

In a statement about Operation Bot Roast the FBI urged PC users to
practice good computer security which includes using regularly updated
anti-virus software and installing a firewall.

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The organisation said it was difficult for people to know if their
machine was part of a botnet.

However it said telltale signs could be if the machine ran slowly, had
an e-mail outbox full of mail a user did not send or they get e-mail
saying they are sending spam.