Microsoft sues super-spammers

2005-10-28 19:25

Seattle - Microsoft is suing 13 groups of "super-spammers" who used virus-infected computers to send out millions of spam messages, the tech website ZDNet.com reported on Friday.

The report said that the targets of the lawsuit have not yet been named as Microsoft seeks court orders to uncover their identity, which they concealed using numerous online aliases.

The company launched the lawsuits after running a test in which its technicians intentionally allowed a computer to become infected with the spammers' code.

They found that the single computer sent over 18 million pieces of spyware and spam to 5 million different web users.

ZDNet.com quoted Microsoft as saying that the civil suit, filed in August in Washington State's King County Superior Court, "for the first time specifically targets illegal e-mail operations that connect to zombie computers to send spam".

Microsoft said that such zombie computers are responsible for more than half of all spam.

Sapa-dpa

- SAPA