Right now, you could be involved in the distribution of child pornography and not know it. This is because two things you're familiar with - computer viruses and spam - are the tools international criminals are using to secretly ensnare unwitting victims in their illegal activities.
It's probably not too surprising to anyone with an e-mail account that spam has reached epidemic proportions. In fact, it's been reported that more spam was intercepted in July, 2003 than in all of 2002 combined, and now accounts for 50% of all e-mail received!
The prevalence of virus and virus-like attacks has also increased dramatically. On average, viruses are present in about one in 166 e-mails! (Source: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-5058168.html)
So, what does the current spam epidemic and the rise in e-mail delivered viruses have to do with child pornography?
In this scam, Trojan horse attacks are of particular concern. If you don't know what a Trojan horse is and exactly how it can integrate itself into your computer then you are extremely vulnerable. You can read a simple and concise explanation here: http://www.irchelp.org/irchelp/security/trojan.html
Trojan horses, through some of the methods you read about in the article, are being used (right now!) to literally hijack personal computers in order to remotely relay ads for pornographic web sites.
But, because the pornographic images are not actually written to the hard drive, the owner of the PC never even knows what's going on...yet porn ads are being transmitted (spammed) to thousands of e-mail addresses from his/her IP address!
Porn is BIG business on the Net, raking in billions of dollars annually, and one of the most effective ways to advertise the thousands of internet porn sites is by spamming millions of people day after day.
Hijackers use the victims' computers to vastly increase the scope of their spam campaigns. An additional benefit is that if a victim's ISP terminates their Internet account because of spam complaints, the hijackers are unfazed because they have hundreds or thousands of additional computers doing their dirty work for them.
The hijackers couldn't care less if you lose your Internet account. And porn, as distasteful as it is to many people, is legal in most places. But, when hijackers turn into cyber-criminals and begin using these methods to profit from the very illegal trade of child pornography and exploitation, you ould get caught in a very dangerous situation.
In one recent case "a man accused of storing child pornography on his computer was cleared after it emerged that his computer had been infected by a Trojan horse, which was responsible for transferring the images onto his PC."
But before he was cleared of the charges, "Julian Green, 45, was taken into custody...after police with a search warrant raided his house. He then spent a night in a police cell, nine days in Exeter prison and three months in a bail hostel. During this time, his ex-wife won custody of his seven year old daughter and possession of his house." (Source: ZDNet® UK/August 1, 2003)
As you may know, simply being accused of involvement in child pornography is enough to destroy reputations and relationships, even if the accused is ultimately cleared of the charges. It's almost always a lose-lose situation.
And for all those who like to share files, it's been reported that Peer-To-Peer networks, including the music site Kazaa® are currently being investigated in the US for pornography swapping.
As these types of attacks increase, they're likely to expand from the realm of pornography peddling and child exploitation into other illegal activities.
Think about it: a criminal anywhere in the world could remotely (and without your knowledge) use your home or office computer for money laundering, extortion, pyramid schemes...even terrorist network communications. All traceable back to YOUR IP address by domestic and international law enforcement agencies, putting you at extreme risk while the real criminals operate anonymously and safely.
An active and updated virus program and personal firewall can give you some measure of protection. Being aware of the danger and knowing how to AVOID trouble before its too late is the other and equally important half of your defense.
Spam-filtering software is also something to look into, but realize that most of these programs don't do a very good job yet of distinguishing between spam and the e-mail that you really want or need.
For example, because of spam filters, some major ISP's and email providers mistakenly filtered out between 17% and 38% of WANTED e-mails in the first half of this year." That's a huge percentage. (Source: Washington Times/August 18, 2003)
So, it's a constant balancing act between taking the necessary protective measures and continuing to use the Internet to its fullest potential. But ignoring the threat isn't an option. Automated e-mail harvesters are stripping e-mail addresses from millions of web sites and ISP data bases this very minute...and this scam is just one among hundreds victimizing thousands of people everyday...
