I don't know what proof MessageLabs has, but they report that spammers
are breaking into home PCs of unsuspecting users to send junk mail.
http://www.vnunet.com/News/1141610
Spammers are increasingly hijacking home PCs to send junk mail, according
to MessageLabs. The managed email service provider claims to have proof
of spammers using viruses to plant Trojan malware on PCs to provide
remote access.
Hi, Sean.
] I don't know what proof MessageLabs has, but they report that spammers
] are breaking into home PCs of unsuspecting users to send junk mail.
What proof? Old proof. 
There are numerous bots, including the
now venerable SDbot, that have this capability. This doesn't count
the plethora of other malware that can also forward spam.
Thanks,
Rob.
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 00:27:23 -0500 (CDT)
From: Rob Thomas
] I don't know what proof MessageLabs has, but they report
] that spammers are breaking into home PCs of unsuspecting
s/home/home, business, colo, and most any other/
] users to send junk mail.
What proof? Old proof.
including the now venerable SDbot, that have this capability.
This doesn't count the plethora of other malware that can
also forward spam.
...and not only spam, but Joe job spam. Those of us at the edge
have heard "why am I getting bounces for mail I didn't send?" a
time or two. 
MessageLabs just now realized this? AFAIK, this and open proxies
are pretty much _the_ standard vectors nowadays for spamming.
Has ML also "discovered" it's pretty much up to service providers
to combat this, and that it is far from the most pressing issue
law enforcement has on their proverbial plates?
Eddy
law enforcement seems to be much more interested in prosecuting
hard to trace underage script kiddies, that it does prosecuting easily
traceable adult porn spammers who trojan 1000's of peoples machines.
-Dan
Dan Hollis wrote:
law enforcement seems to be much more interested in prosecuting
hard to trace underage script kiddies, that it does prosecuting easily
traceable adult porn spammers who trojan 1000's of peoples machines.
I suspect that the latter can pay for 'lobbying' better. Cough.
Peter
: I don't know what proof MessageLabs has, but they report that spammers
: are breaking into home PCs of unsuspecting users to send junk mail.
I see quite a bit of this; mostly from DSL customers. What few spam complaints
we get are by far sent by this method. The users have no idea their boxes are spamming.
James Edwards
jamesh@cybermesa.com
Routing and Security
Yes this is the latest in evolution from open relay, formmail vulns and now to
worm/trojans
I think this is the source of the joe job stuff i posted about a couple weeks
back
Steve
Heck I've had a steady stream of SOCK Proxy attempts against my own home
DSL network from AS28706 IP space over the last month alone... The occurances
have done nothing but increase...
Regards,
Jeremy T. Bouse
It should be easy enough to 'follow the money' by seeing who's doing the
selling -
Whoever's paying for the advertising should be held accountable for the
spam generated - even by subcontractors.
- Lars