Absolutely Frightful! Zombie ComputersThough the term "zombie computer" may conjure up hilarious images of grisly undead computers mindlessly moaning out code, roaming the land and causing madness and mayhem, a zombie computer is simply a computer that has been surreptitiously hijacked by a cyber-criminal (or more than one — your computer can be hacked and abused by multiple hackers at the same time). The idea is that your computer is not actually under your control anymore — mindless in a sense — and most likely spreading the viral cause of its zombie nature, to bring more zombie computers into the fold. Cyber-criminals use large stables of zombie computers to remotely conduct hacking and other illegal internet activities, including SPAM and other unwanted and possibly illegal content distribution, and may even rent out the zombified computers to someone else. The owners of most computers that have been hijacked into these zombie networks are completely unaware that their computers have been compromised. As a side affect, the computer owner's date on the zombified computer is also at risk of corruption, deletion and theft. Zombie computers have been around for many years, but the switch to "secure DNS" has made them harder to detect. The easiest way to detect zombification is to review with whom on the Internet the computer is communicating, easiest done by checking DNS requests. "Secure DNS," however, encrypts and obscures DNS requests, making it much more difficult to detect the workings of computer zombification. The bottom line: when your computer becomes a zombie, hackers can use it for whatever purpose they want. They could even turn on your microphone and camera remotely to watch and listen to you, or steal your files, read your emails and glean personal details about you and your identity — and not out of curiosity, either (sad as it sounds, they don't have your best interests at heart). At some point, they could even remove the zombieware from your computer, leaving little trace behind of their hijacking of your computer. Seems hopeless, but it is not. LAD offers a host of features to help you detect and combat the malicious communications in which your computer may be entangled, encrypted or not, and returns control over your computer's activities on the web where it belongs: in your hands. Zombies should stick to Halloween and horror movies. Download LAD | Learn More About LAD | LAD for Home | LAD for Business | DIY VoIP PBX
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