PineApp Release App To Battle Zombie Networks

By Rohan Parker

According to a statement released by PineApp, the company has created a new application, titled ZombiCop, which will combat the increasing amount of spam delivered from zombie computers.

This new method of spam has proved almost immune to the current anti-virus and anti-botnet software, however ISPs should now stand a better chance with the creation of ZombiCop.

A zombie computer, or server, is one which has been infected by a Trojan-horse or a Virus and subsequently sends out spam. Currently, zombie networks produce 95% of spam seen today.

These zombie networks have shown the ability to navigate through multi-layered security methods and enact massive distributed denial of service (DDoS) assaults, mail out malware, phishing emails, as well as viruses.

In recent months, the heat has been on ISPs to crack down on zombie networks, and put a stop to attacks originating from them.

The success of ZombiCop comes from its ability to filter web traffic at the perimeter. This will allow ZombiCop to classify over 50 million IPs and zone out those which are sending malicious packages.

ZombiCop allows ISPs to remain continuous in their business by compiling detection methods into one application, which will make it easier to monitor zombie patterns of activity.

ZombiCop also includes a IP reputation profile engine, which should also help in locating likely zombie emails.

This application should also reduce the amount of ISP mail-server blacklists that are currently in use today.

PineApp’s ZombiCop can be set to both ‘passive inspection sniffer’ and ‘active policy enforcer’.

The former will only alert the ISP after a zombie has been detected, however the latter will actually block or reduce information from IP’s which have been tagged as having zombies.

There is also a ’smart traffic analyser’ option for ZombiCop, which is a multi-layered approach to inspecting content.