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ProxyBack Malware Turns Infected Computers into Internet Proxies (softpedia.com)
An anonymous reader writes: A new malware family called ProxyBack infects PCs and transforms them into a Web proxy. ProxyBack malware works by infecting a PC, establishing a connection with a proxy server controlled by the attackers, from where it receives instructions, and later the traffic it needs to route to actual Web servers. Each machine infected with ProxyBack works as a bot inside a larger network controlled by the attackers, who send commands and update instructions via simple HTTP requests. Some of the people infected with this malware, mysteriously found their IP listed on the buyproxy.ru Web proxy service.A technical write-up of the infection steps and various malware commands is available on the Palo Alto Networks blog.
Rooting a computer for the purpose of making it a proxy or a zombie to probe or attack other hosts has been a core goal of attackers for at least 20 years now. What makes this discovery special?
and what's this proxy he's bringing?
I wouldn't have expected that in a million years!
How is this anything different than botnets and the like that have been around for years? Slahdot reporting in!
Republicans like Bill Gates? 8D
FTFY
I find it interesting that the article never mentions Windows in the text, or that it only runs on Windows, as indicated in the graphics. The word Windows appears 16 times (at least) but zero times in a searchable format.
* Some people claim that the term PC refers specifically to a system with Windows. Their argument invariably represents an ignorance with respect to the history of both Microsoft and the various PCs.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
Since it is somewhat unlikely that these proxies are going to be used to promote freedom of speech in countries where such a thing is unknown and rather for, let's say, less benign reasons, we may already wait for the first raids on infected machines that happened to be used to get access to child porn or even copyrighted content.
It just might make people consider that securing their machines could possibly, just maybe, be in their own interest.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
It occurred to me that one thing we haven't seen yet (or maybe?) is some sort of malware or Trojan that infects computers to run as exit nodes for TOR.
Imagine how that would affect the overall TOR network.