Invasion Of The iPod Zombies

Grok Headline matches for Invasion Of The iPod Zombies

iPod Zombies In New Yrok -- It's True

iPod Zombies In New Yrok -- It's True 03/06/2004 02:06 AM
The iPod is allowing Apple to reach people that may not have given the company a second look a couple of years ago. By Jim Dalrymple (Macworld via MyAppleMenu)

British invasion of the iPod:
KarmaDownload.com launches in North
America

British invasion of the iPod:
KarmaDownload.com launches in North
America 03/14/2005 06:08 PM
"The best in British music" is promised from the UK's leading indie site, KarmaDownload.com, as it launches in North America, featuring an unrivalled inclusion of the best new dance, rock and urban acts from UK and European independent labels. The legal MP3 site does not require subscriptions, and files are compatible with the majority of players including the iPod.

Music lovers will discover the best UK and European music with over 100,000 tracks available from 3,500 independent labels and unsigned artists, including many rare and hard-to-find tracks, priced at USD$.99 for singles and USD$9.99 for albums.

All You Zombies

All You Zombies 07/13/2004 05:32 AM

Lastest reports suggest that most of the spam and viruses out there come from "Zombie" machines -- machines that have been infected with viruses, spyware and other malware -- often unknown to the owner -- that sit and pump out their nasty effluent for the highest bidder.

Is your machine among the infected? Or likely to become so? Who among your acquaintences badly needs some clues and advice?

Here's a simple guide to how to protect yourself, your computer, and your data.

Find out for sure if you're part of the problem -- or how to insure you don't become a part of it.

Zombies on the web

Zombies on the web 06/22/2005 02:58 AM
There are actually three different kinds of zombies. All of them are like humans in some ways, and all of them are lacking something crucial (something different in each case).

Hollywood zombies. These are found in zombie B-movies...
Haitian zombies. These are found in the voodoo (or vodou) tradition in Haiti...
Philosophical zombies. These are found in philosophical articles on consciousness...

Zombies on the web

BBC Says There are One Million Zombies
on Web

BBC Says There are One Million Zombies
on Web 03/19/2005 02:44 AM
"More than one million computers on the net have been hijacked to attack websites and pump out spam and viruses."

Zombies for sale

Zombies for sale 09/10/2004 03:04 PM
Compromised PCs are valuable these days, at least to spammers. Some are willing to pay over US$2,000 for a network of zombie PCs.

Una de (ordenadores) zombies

Una de (ordenadores) zombies 07/28/2004 05:53 AM

Zombies all, and glad of it

Zombies all, and glad of it 08/17/2004 07:40 AM
Chicago Tribune Aug 17 2004 12:12PM GMT

Zombies at Starbucks

Zombies at Starbucks 04/28/2004 12:14 AM

This particularly ghoulish scene from the movie Security Scenarios from Hell has three actors: WiFi, Zombies, and Spyware.

Perils of WiFi are well known and well publicized (i.e. Wireles s Networks are in Big Trouble, a classic Wired from 2001).  If you are a geek, here is a more technical version of the same from Secur ity-Forums.com.  While the perils were preached before their subjects have, WiFi is now commonly available which means those perils are now common as well.

Zombies are also well publicized.  Typically, they are poorly protected servers or home PCs with broadbands which are hijacked by hackers, supposedly even traded like Yu-Ki-Oh cards in the hacker community, and used to increase scalability to their attacks and to reduce likelyness of capture.

Spyware is software running on desktops that monitors user activities and report back to it's master.  Most of them are just privacy violators, some are used for more sinister purpose and are called trojans.  Earthlink recently claimed that PCs had, on the average, 28 spyware installed.  While I think the claim is over-hype d to fit their agenda, spyware is nonetheless common place and it's not difficult to place one on anyone's compure.  If your PC is more than six months old, chances are that there were plenty of opportunities for hackers to seed it with spyware.

So here is the scene: imagine a new class of spyware that monitors wireless network packets using code from these open source wiretapping tools.  AirSnort and one of the ARP poisoning packages should be enough.  Now imagine this spyware being delivered to laptops with WiFi cards that supports features AirSnort needs.  The laptop just became a new kind of zombie, which I call wireless zombie, that only wakes up when the WiFi card is used.

All that is missing from the scene is the stage: a WiFi hotspot like Starbucks.  The laptop owner sits in a corner and access the Net through the WiFi, it could even be someone like me writing this very blog post.  The spyware wakes up and starts monitoring the wireless traffic looking for passwords and credit card numbers.  If very strong encryption is used, wireless zombies can form a global grid and split up the work of cracking encryption keys.  Once a month, the zombies reports back to their master via USENET posts.

This Zombies at Starbucks scenario is particularly nasty because the potential number of compromises is just staggering.  Maybe the FCC will have to dictate higher level of standards and send out a warning that helps WiFi users detect wireless zombies by the unusual fan activities triggered by the zombie grid working overtime.

Plight of the zombies

Plight of the zombies 02/17/2004 09:56 AM
USA Today Feb 17 2004 1:58PM GMT

What are zombies and trolls?

What are zombies and trolls? 02/05/2005 09:26 PM
Dave, I’m surrounded by strange jargon and I feel like an extra in a B-grade horror movie. One mailing list I’m on has “trolls”, and the latest virus can turn my computer into a “zombie”, and my ISP keeps talking about “demons”! Egads! Do I need some sort of exorcist to use my computer now??…

Direct and Related Links for 'What are zombies and trolls?'

How Much For A Network Of Zombies?

How Much For A Network Of Zombies? 09/08/2004 05:26 AM
USA Today is running a series of articles about various "bad things" happening on the internet, from spyware to phishing attacks to zombies, and one of the sidebar items looks more closely at the zombie problem, suggesting a network of 20,000 zombie machines can be leased for $2,000 to $3,000. Of course, they don't say what the terms of the lease are. Is it for a day? A month? A certain number of emails or DDoS attacks sent? One interesting (and slightly scary) note, however, is that some zombie networks now appear to be using a rotational system to avoid detection. Rather than have all 20,000 zombie machines blasting spam at once, it rotates. This way, not only is it tougher to track down which machines are actually zombified, the owners of those machines are much less likely to notice there's any kind of a problem with their machine -- and, thus, much less likely to clean the machine to free it from its zombie masters.

Other News: Windows Zombies

Other News: Windows Zombies 05/27/2004 09:13 AM
PC zombies created by Windows worms aren't just a "theoretical" problem - they're actually delivering massive loads of spam for their remote masters right now.

Brightmail tackles zombies

Brightmail tackles zombies 07/01/2004 10:05 AM
Antispam vendor releases new version of software to try to keep zombie PCs at bay.

Web outage blamed on zombies

Web outage blamed on zombies 06/17/2004 05:12 AM
ZDNet UK Jun 17 2004 9:03AM GMT

NY Times On Spam Zombies

NY Times On Spam Zombies 06/24/2005 06:17 PM

Spammers: Looking for a few good zombies

Spammers: Looking for a few good zombies 05/21/2004 06:59 PM
ZDNet May 21 2004 10:31PM GMT

Comcast Thinks About Stopping Zombies

Comcast Thinks About Stopping Zombies 05/24/2004 08:21 PM

Brightmail's new software tackles
zombies

Brightmail's new software tackles
zombies 07/01/2004 10:35 AM
ZDNet UK Jul 1 2004 1:49PM GMT

Week in review: Attack of the zombies

Week in review: Attack of the zombies 06/18/2004 02:13 PM
A denial-of-service outage hits Akamai and some of its top customers, and smart phones get their first-ever call from a worm.

Attack of Comcast's Internet zombies

Attack of Comcast's Internet zombies 05/24/2004 06:03 AM

"When the zombies take over, how long
till the electricity fails?"

"When the zombies take over, how long
till the electricity fails?" 06/18/2004 11:20 AM

Government Machines Turned Into Spam
Zombies

Government Machines Turned Into Spam
Zombies 08/31/2004 10:06 AM

Hackers hijack federal computers: Not even the federal government is immune. This must be the zombie controllers Holy Grail, 'cause I imagine the feds have some decidedly fast machines lying around.

Hundreds of powerful computers at the Defense Department and U.S. Senate were hijacked by hackers who used them to send spam e-mail, federal authorities say.

More on zombie networks here and here.

Click here to comment on this entry

Zombies may spoil Microsoft's spam plan

Zombies may spoil Microsoft's spam plan 06/04/2004 12:27 PM
ZDNet Jun 4 2004 3:27PM GMT

The Inquirer: 'Apple zombies attack
RealNetworks'

The Inquirer: 'Apple zombies attack
RealNetworks' 08/19/2004 05:48 AM
Nick Farrell, writing for The Inquirer, has an "interesting" take on Apple fans and the recent Real/Apple petition snafu...

ISPs Teaming Up To Standardize Plans To
Stop Zombies

ISPs Teaming Up To Standardize Plans To
Stop Zombies 06/22/2004 02:02 PM
Six large ISPs are now teaming up to take on the issue of zombie machines spewing spam. AOL, Yahoo, Earthlink, Comcast, Microsoft and BT are all working together to come up with a standard way to fight spam zombies, but some of their plans may upset certain users. While it's good to see them (finally) taking this issue seriously, one of the proposed solutions is to limit how many emails a customer can send out per hour or per day. While this is unlikely to be a problem for most users, it could cause problems for people who legitimately need to send out a large number of messages. Besides, as some have been suggesting, all this really means is that spammers will have incentive to get their software on even more machines in order to keep on spamming.

Straight Dope Staff Report: When the
zombies take over, how long till the
electricityfails?

Straight Dope Staff Report: When the
zombies take over, how long till the
electricityfails? 06/16/2004 01:06 PM
Straight Dope Staff Report: When the zombies take over, how long till the electricity fails? .. Important hypothetical question .. how long would power last .. Now you know .. StraightDope .. zombies

straightdope.com/mailbag/mzombiepower.html
track this site | 7 links

Invasion of the Centibots

Invasion of the Centibots 12/20/2003 08:42 AM
San Jose Mercury News Dec 20 2003 8:12AM ET

Invasion Of The Pod People

Invasion Of The Pod People 04/06/2005 02:39 AM

This is the sound of the world's first iTour. A digitally downloadable guide to Glasgow's creative hotspots, well off the beaten path and with a soundtrack to die for. By Craig Brown, The Scotsman

A Canadian Invasion

A Canadian Invasion 08/27/2004 03:59 PM
Toronto-Dominion is the latest Canadian bank to look for growth south of the border. No, not in Mexico.

Windows Invasion

Windows Invasion 01/09/2004 09:50 PM
Can you believe this is the 80th episode of Freeloader Friday? Thanks goes out to all you freeloaders that have made this series so popular.

This week we'll keep the tradition alive with a collection of freeware designed to take you behind enemy lines in the platform wars.

Join me for 2004's first Freeloader Friday!

Like Pixels? Check out MacDesign

Invasion Of The iPods

Invasion Of The iPods 02/05/2005 09:39 PM

Dave Winer: Walking through [New York City] is like walking through an Apple ad.

Die Invasion hat begonnen!

Die Invasion hat begonnen! 06/06/2004 06:49 PM
Front Pages of News Papers from Tuesday June 6th and Wendsday June 7th 1944
The wonderful Newseum provides a look back at some of the front pages from newspapers reporting the invasion of "Fortress Europe" 60 years ago today.

The Invasion Begins

The Invasion Begins 12/12/2003 02:14 AM
Mars Attacks!
"In 1962, Topps released the bubble-gum cards known as "Mars Attacks". They were the creation of Len Brown and Woody Gelman. They were painted by the famous pulp-comic artist, Norm Saunders. Presented here, for the first time on the Web, are scanned reproductions of their genius..."

The Kabal Invasion

The Kabal Invasion 04/13/2004 09:52 AM
Project grand re-opening!

Invasion of the spambots

Invasion of the spambots 06/08/2004 09:06 AM
From blog spam to pornbots, new strains of computer programs aimed at pumping up Google page ranks just keep on coming.

Invasion Of The iPods II

Invasion Of The iPods II 02/05/2005 09:39 PM

The Giant Shuffle is here.

Invasion of the iSCSI arrays

Invasion of the iSCSI arrays 04/01/2005 06:49 AM
TechWorld Apr 1 2005 11:11AM GMT

"The Neal Pollack Invasion"

"The Neal Pollack Invasion" 04/09/2004 04:12 PM

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Invasion Of The iPod Zombies

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