Is your computer a botnet?
Of the 600 million computers currently connected to the Internet, between 100 and 150 million are already part of botnets. Botnets are made up of large numbers of computers that malicious hackers have brought under their control after infecting them with so-called Trojan virus programs.
This alarming picture was described by no less than Vint Cerf, often called the ‘Father of the Internet’, speaking today at the World Economic Forum in Davos. More information here.
January 26th, 2007 at 11:09 am
Sad but true. But even sadder that it’s very easy, and generally free, to actually fix.
Windows users can look to fix this by checking out some of the excellent free anti-spyware and anti-virus software included in the Google Pack:
http://pack.google.com
As well as moving to use a browser such as Firefox, although the latest versions of internet explorer have addressed many of the issues that led to this problem.
Another approach is to look at upgrading to a nice Apple Mac, which have (so far) been unaffected by such, have lots of great (free) software and can actually run Windows as well if you’re a die-hard.
Of course, it’s always wise to run anti-virus software whatever computer you have: Complacency is the friend of the bot-net.
January 26th, 2007 at 11:12 am
Excellent advice, Richard.