Skip to main content

Here's what a VPN can't protect you from (but you need to use it)

The abbreviation " VPN " has slowly become established among average Internet users, which is certainly good, but the problem is that people have started to see VPN as the ultimate solution to all problems.

Grum botnet eliminated!

Grum botnet eliminated!

A botnet that experts believe sent 18% of the world's spam e-mail messages was recently shut down, according to a report by a security firm.

Grum's control servers were mostly based in Panama, Russia, and Ukraine. Security company FireEye and spam monitoring service SpamHaus worked in cooperation with local Internet service providers and shut down the illegal network. A botnet is a network of computers that have been hijacked by cybercriminals, in most cases using malicious software.

FireEye security researcher, Atif Mushtaq, states that the takedown of Grum is the result of the joint effort of a large number of people and that this cooperation sends a strong message to all spammers. Mushtaq states that at the beginning of the week he found out that the Dutch server that was part of Grum was also shut down, which was followed by positive news about the shutdown of the server in Panama, however, Grum started its activities again, but this time from the territory of Ukraine.

Shutting down Groom represents one of the largest efforts to neutralize botnets worldwide. Russian Georgiy Avanesov was jailed for four years in May this year for being the mastermind behind the Bredolab botnet, which is believed to have generated more than £80,000 a month in revenue.

Microsoft has been working to disable Zeus, another major network responsible for the theft of several million pounds. FireEye also worked with other experts around the world to put as much pressure as possible on local ISPs to suspend illegal operations. Mushtaq states that more than 20,000 computers are still part of the botnet, but that without active CnC, they too will soon become ineffective.

The downing of Grom represents a big step forward in combating the spread of botnets around the world, Mushtaq believes, since there is no paradise for such activities anywhere. Most of the spam botnets that kept their CNC in the USA and Europe have moved to countries like Panama, Russia, and Ukraine thinking that nobody can do anything to them in these territories but now it is possible to pressure local internet providers to deny them service and thus help eliminate such illegal networks.

Comments

Popular this month

Chrome crashed in Pwn2Own

Google's Chrome browser crashed during the Pwn2Own competition. Yesterday, the first of three days of the competition was held. Although Pwn2Own has been untouchable in the past two years , the French team, Vupen, was the first to show the existence of two weak points within this browser when it runs on the Windows 7 operating system.

Mobile Browsers

The Internet on mobile devices is becoming more popular and has more and more users. As mobile internet expands, so do mobile browsers. Although the devices themselves already have built-in basic internet browsers, new browsers are constantly appearing. The reason is that each of the programs brings something new and useful. For example, Opera Mini is most popular on older phone models that use Java applications, while on Android platforms Chrome , Firefox ,  Dolphin , and xScope are more represented.

Nintendo server hacked!

Problems with hackers are no longer just PlayStation 3 exclusives. Nintendo confirmed yesterday that their Nintendo America server was hacked but that no information or data was compromised during the attack.

The first Lion update

As part of a software update released yesterday, Apple released OS X 10.7.1 , the first update for their operating system that carries patches for several security vulnerabilities and bugs that accompanied the initial release.

Sony Xperia Z5 Dual Sim review [video + images]

The Xperia Z5 is another great flagship model from the Z family of devices that Sony launched in September this year, about a month ago. The case design is great . The side edges are slightly curved to make the phone fit better in the hand, and the back of the device has a fine finish so there are no glare and fingerprints.