Zombies from China attack Internet

From Computerworld‘s “Army of zombies invades China“:

China’s rapid Internet growth has brought with it a somewhat disturbing side effect: multiplying zombies up to no good.

Zombies, or Internet-connected computers infected by worms or viruses and under the control of a hacker, are used to launch denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, or send spam or phishing e-mails. An average of 157,000 new zombies are identified each day, and 20% of these are in China, security company CipherTrust Inc. reported this week.

… “Criminals look for a weaker link, so places like China, or anywhere behind the U.S. in terms of computer literacy, are a good target,” Stanley said.

China’s fast-growing Internet population is also an attraction, he said. As of January, there were 94 million Internet users in the China, up 18% from the year before, according to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC).