The Internet Danger Report

A little over two years ago, Red Herring magazine published an article on the rise of computer zombies. It quoted a report by anti-spam company CypherTrust that 172,000 computer users were losing control of their machines every day. That was a startling statistic. It meant that criminals were building botnets at a staggering rate.

Two years on the growth of botnets is greater and faster. The FBI has established an ongoing initiative called Operation Bot Roast which so far has identified one million bots, another name for a computer under the control of a hacker. The FBI has just scratched the surface. Vincent Cerf, a Google vice president and widely recognized father of the Internet, believes there are at least 150 million bots, comprising many thousands of botnets.

Secure Computing, which tracks the Internet threat landscape, reports that in the first half of 2007 the average number of new zombies per day was greater than 500,000. That’s about a threefold increase in just two years. Think about that! Fifteen million new zombie computers every month!

With numbers like this, what are the odds that your computer is under the control of a criminal hacker?

Read what happened to Candace Locklear (here). It took 8 hours for a technician to clean up her computer after she discovered that it had sent out dozens of instant messages with photos attached that were infected with malicious software. Eight hours at $75 per hour? I wouldn’t like to get that bill.

The article points out that “there is never 100 percent security.” But you can have security technology of the same grade that your bank uses, and you can have a security team watching your back that will fix problems like Candace’s and not charge you a penny. It’s called Managed Internet Security Service.

Disclaimer: I am a member of the national marketing team that promotes Managed Internet Security Service for consumers and small business owners. Detailed information is here.

So where has it been?

I started the Internet Danger Report more than a year ago as a way to share information about a subject I had become interested in as a result of a direct encounter with a criminal hacker.

I chose Wordpress.com to host the blog for two reasons. One, it offered the best software platform that I was able to find, and two, it hosts blogs for free.

Free is good, right?

Well, not always.

The one downside with free blog hosting arrangements is that you give up control. The host can shut you down for any reason at any time and you have no recourse whatsoever. That’s true of any of the free blog hosts. Just read their Terms of Service documents.

Here’s what happened to me.

On July 5 I tried to log in to post a new article and was met with the message that “This blog has been archived or suspended for a violation of our Terms of Service.” I immediately sent an email to the Wordpress support address, requesting information about the nature of the alleged violation and instructions on how to correct it. After 3 days and no response, I wrote again. I wrote a third time a few days later.

I have never received a response.

I have poured over the Wordpress Terms of Service trying to figure out what I might have done or said that could be interpreted as a violation. But I can’t find a thing.

Something I said must have offended somebody.

Bottom line: I can heartily recommend the Wordpress blog software. It’s available free from leading web hosting providers. But I strongly advise against putting yourself at the mercy of Wordpress censors, or those of any other company that offers free blog hosting. Get your own server. There are some excellent hosting services out there that charge as little as $5 per month.

Going forward, I plan to post entries more frequently than has been my habit. There are many dangers on the Internet, with all sorts of daily developments that you should know about in order to protect your privacy, your personal assets, your business, and your family. I collect stories from a variety of excellent sources, and my plan is to post recaps of the most interesting and appropriate ones, with links to the sources. I’ll write longer articles as the spirit moves me.

Stay safe out there on the information superhighway.