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RAT-infested PCs

Report: A third of spam spread by RAT-infested PCs | CNET News.com: "There are lots of people on cable modems and broadband connections that haven't properly secured their computer,' he said. 'They don't know it, but their PC is being used as a relay for sending spam to thousands and thousands of other people. We believe that 30 percent of all spam'--or unsolicited commercial e-mail messages--'is being sent from compromised computers.'

Cluley said that if a Remote Access Trojan (RAT), a type of Trojan horse program, is able to get into a PC, an attacker could take full control of that PC, as long as it is connected to the Internet. 'They can steal information, read files, write files, send e-mails from that user's name--it is as though the attacker has broken into the office or home and is sitting in front of that computer,' he said.

There is also a very small chance that PC owners will have any idea their system is being used by a third party, said Cluley, who warned that attackers could remove any traces of their activity so that there would be no obvious record: 'It is really just network and Internet bandwidth that is suffering--there is no permanent record left on the PC that you can look up--you wouldn't see anything if you checked your Outlook 'Sent Items' folder,' he said."

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