FTC Steps Up Fight Against Zombies

WASHINGTON — The Federal Trade Commission in cooperation with agencies in more than 30 other countries will launch a broad-based initiative to fight remote-controlled zombie networks used to spread spam, Don Blumenthal, head of the FTC's Internet lab, told XBiz.

A number of Internet security firms have released reports in recent weeks blaming zombie-infected computers for anywhere between 40 percent and 65 percent of all spam — and placing much of the blame on adult webmasters.

Blumenthal said that on Tuesday his agency will send letters to ISPs around the world outlining steps they should take to combat zombie code.

One provision of the directive that may be of importance to adult webmasters calls for a technique called port-25 blocking, which prevents email from leaving an Internet service provider’s network without flowing through internal servers.

Among other side effects, port-25 blocking can prohibit webmasters from running their own mail servers, a common practice among those who prefer Linux environments.

For the most part, the FTC and its international partners are placing the burden of zombie fighting on ISPs.

In particular, they want ISPs to develop new techniques to spot and isolate computers generating suspect emails and help for customers to rid computers of zombie code.

But representatives of the ISP community have complained that such directives are misdirected and that they are as much victims of zombie attacks as anyone.

“It’s like walking up to a mugging victim and slapping them because they’re contributing to crime,” Dave McClure, president of the U.S. Internet Industry Association, said of the measure.

McClure said most zombie servers are hosted outside the United States and that U.S.-based ISPs have no control over zombie code that is hosted on foreign servers.

But Blumethal points out that many ISPs already are using the best practices his agency is recommending and that the FTC is working with dozens of international counterparts to help ISPs deal with Zombie attacks.

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

Texas Resumes AV Lawsuit Against Aylo Following SCOTUS Decision

A district court judge in Texas has unfrozen the state’s $1.6 million lawsuit against Aylo for allegedly failing to comply with age verification requirements, Bloomberg Law is reporting.

JuicyAds Wins Trademark Infringement Case Against Fraudulent Domain

JuicyAds has won its World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) case against a website using a similar domain to impersonate the company's site and defraud customers.

Anissa Kate, Jordan Starr Top AEBN for Q2 of 2025

AEBN has published its top-selling stars for the second quarter of 2025, with Anissa Kate landing atop the leaderboard for straight theaters and Jordan Starr heading up the gay rankings.

AEBN Reveals Eva Maxim as Top Trans Star for Q2 of 2025

AEBN has published its top trans stars list for the second quarter of 2025, with Eva Maxim landing atop the leaderboard.

France Reinstates Age Verification Rule for EU Sites

France’s highest court, the Council of State, on Tuesday reinstated age verification rules for EU-based sites under the country’s Security and Regulation of the Digital Space (SREN) law, ruling in favor of the French government and against Hammy Media.

Whisper Fans Joins Pineapple Support as Supporter-Level Sponsor

Whisper Fans has joined the ranks of over 70 adult businesses and organizations committing funds and resources to Pineapple Support.

Utherverse Launches 'Red Light Center' Virtual World

Virtual reality and metaverse technology company Utherverse has launched its new virtual world, RedLightCenter.io.

European Commission Approves AV Guidelines, Unveils Prototype App

The European Commission on Monday released its final, approved guidelines for protecting minors online under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) and made public a “white label” age verification app intended to help sites and platforms comply with age verification rules under the DSA.

Show More