Mega-D Botnet Overtakes Storm, Accounts for 32% of Spam

Stony Stevenson writes "The new Mega-D Botnet has overtaken the notorious Storm worm botnet as the largest single source of the world's spam according to security vendor Marshal. This botnet currently accounts for 32 percent of all spam, 11 percent more than the Storm botnet which peaked at 21 percent in September 2007. It started about 4 months ago but has been steadily increasing since then. It is also using news headlines to trick victims into opening the spam, a technique synonymous with the Storm worm."

Comments

Windows users

[Anonymous Coward]

For those of us still running Windows XP, I remember there being several products from Mcafee and Symantec that would be available for free download to remove the latest pieces of malware. I don't know what the latest and greatest is now. Are there any specific tools we can use (beyond a virus scanner) to check for and removed malware?

Re:Windows users

[ISurfTooMuch]

One thing that comes to mind is Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool, which comes out each month in Windows Update. Another tool is Trend Micro's online virus scanner, located at http://housecall.trendmicro.com./

The tools you're thinking of were standalone removal tools for specific pieces of malware. I'm sure they still release these from time to time. They usually came out for malware that was especially high-profile, so don't expect to see one for every one out there.

But the most useful tools, IMHO, are the antivirus programs you can get for free, specifically AVG and avast!, among others. They work well, and they're much less bloated than Symantec of McAfee. Whenever I'm setting up a new computer for someone, reinstalling Windows on an old one, or doing any kind of work on one, I make it a point to question the owner about their virus protection and, after getting their OK, install some soft of AV software on it. If every geek did this, we might make an impact, albeit a small one, on the botnet problem. Remember, a little education goes a long way.

mAVG: http://free.grisoft.com/
avast!: http://www.avast.com/

Re:Is it time to thank the enablers?

[Anonymous Coward]

" The spam campaign heavily promotes several pharmaceutical products including Herbal King, Express Herbals, and VPXL. "

Those listed above are the real enablers. They are funding the construction of illegal botnets. They are paying for the delivery of massive amounts of illegal spam. These enablers need to be held both financially and criminally accountable for the result.

Re:Spam? What's that?

[QuantumRiff]

If its solved, why did I just have to spend several thousand dollars of taxpayer money to purchase an appliance to combat spam. Were blocking a few dozen thousand messages a day. We don't give students email addresses, just for the 80 or so full time staff. Being a school, we could have used that several thousand dollars to do something that would enhance the learning of our students, like purchase Photo shop for our labs, Or upgrade some computers, or even gotten a few more Mb/s on our internet pipe. But we had to waste it on a spam appliance (But, I do like barracuda's stuff, it works great). No, the spam is not solved, providers have expended great resources and time to ensure that you don't have to deal with it. Hell, maybe if Gmail didn't have to focus on fighting spam, they could actually implement new features, or just take gmail out of beta already!