Microsoft takes on Zeus

2012-04-10 14:44

分享到

 

Get Flash Player

Download

Microsoft takes on Zeus

This is the VOA Special English Technology Report.

The Microsoft Corporation is making progress in efforts to stop one of the most harmful cybercrime operations active today. It is called Zeus.

Last week, an American judge ordered the group of cybercriminals to end their illegal activities. A week earlier, federal officials raided office buildings in two states and seized evidence related to the Zeus family of computer software. Richard Boscovich is with Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit.

RICHARD BOSCOVICH: "The objective was to go in there and be able to seize evidence which would lead us to hopefully identify the individuals behind the Zeus family of malware as well as ultimately identify the computers of people all over the world that are compromised. That is, that they have the malware on their computer. Their being victimized, being used to victimized others and they don't even know about it."

Cybercriminals use Zeus to create a network of infected computers, or botnet, to steal personal information from computer users. Mr. Boscovich says the operation reaches around the world.

RICHARD BOSCOVICH: "We've identified this particular malware was present at any particular point in time in at least 13 million computers worldwide."

Malware means malicious software. It also can be called a computer virus or worm. Mr. Boscovich says it is mostly spread through a normal everyday activity.

RICHARD BOSCOVICH: "The malware is spread through emails where people inadvertently are tricked to click on a particular link on the email or visit a particular site. And once that happens, the objective is to infect the person's computer with this piece of malware."

The malware is programmed to record every key you strike on a computer keyboard. It gathers details about the websites you visit, your usernames and passwords, or other personal information. The information is then sent to the botnet's command center.

RICHARD BOSCOVICH: "What that is is a location on the Internet. It could be domain based or IP based, where the criminals will direct all of these computers that they've infected to every once in a while literally call out to these domains or these IPs are asking for directions."

Much of the stolen information is sold on the black market. The information can be used to steal money from bank accounts or make purchases online without the victim's knowledge. Officials say these malware invasions are one of the main causes of identity theft.

Microsoft brought a case against the Zeus operation on March 19th. The company released the details of the case after the buildings were raided on March 23rd.

Next week, we will tell more about the raids, Zeus, and what Microsoft says computer users can do to protect themselves. We will also talk about other recent efforts to fight cybercrime.

And that's the VOA Special English Technology Report, written by June Simms. Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

malware: malicious computer software that interferes with normal computer functions or sends personal data about the user to unauthorized parties over the Internet 恶意软件

botnet: 僵尸网络,通过各种手段在大量计算机中植入特定的恶意程序,使控制者能够通过相对集中的若干计算机直接向大量计算机发送指令的攻击网络

Related stories:

僵尸电脑 zombie computer

Teens, sexting and 'cyberbaiting'

报告显示90%电邮为垃圾邮件

黑客以MJ之名传播病毒

(来源:VOA 编辑:旭燕)

 

分享到

中国日报网英语点津版权说明:凡注明来源为“中国日报网英语点津:XXX(署名)”的原创作品,除与中国日报网签署英语点津内容授权协议的网站外,其他任何网站或单位未经允许不得非法盗链、转载和使用,违者必究。如需使用,请与010-84883561联系;凡本网注明“来源:XXX(非英语点津)”的作品,均转载自其它媒体,目的在于传播更多信息,其他媒体如需转载,请与稿件来源方联系,如产生任何问题与本网无关;本网所发布的歌曲、电影片段,版权归原作者所有,仅供学习与研究,如果侵权,请提供版权证明,以便尽快删除。

中国日报网双语新闻

扫描左侧二维码

添加Chinadaily_Mobile
你想看的我们这儿都有!

中国日报双语手机报

点击左侧图标查看订阅方式

中国首份双语手机报
学英语看资讯一个都不能少!

关注和订阅

本文相关阅读
人气排行
搜热词
 
 
精华栏目
 

阅读

词汇

视听

翻译

口语

合作

 

关于我们 | 联系方式 | 招聘信息

Copyright by chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved. None of this material may be used for any commercial or public use. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. 版权声明:本网站所刊登的中国日报网英语点津内容,版权属中国日报网所有,未经协议授权,禁止下载使用。 欢迎愿意与本网站合作的单位或个人与我们联系。

电话:8610-84883645

传真:8610-84883500

Email: languagetips@chinadaily.com.cn