McAfee Labs has compiled the top international, U.S. and Canadian cities with the highest population of zombie-infected computers.

A zombie is a computer that has been infected with malicious software, or bots, that allow a third party to control the computer and its resources remotely, unbeknownst to the user sitting in front of the screen. Cybercriminals have full access to data and resources on a zombie computer. They can utilize the bots for Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, to retrieve sensitive data (e.g. your passwords, usernames, account information, and financial data), to send spam and even to distribute the virus to others from your PC.

Earlier this month, the zombie network “Free Public WiFi” resurged in media attention (NPR). It pops up as a wireless network option in public places, but it’s not a functioning or existing WiFi network. Although no one knows for sure where “Free Public WiFi” originated, and some believe it began just as a joke, it does provide an access point for hackers to come in and check out the user’s information, so be cautious not to use it.

Below are the rankings of the cities with the most zombie-infected computers. Beware, the results may scare you!

The top five international cities with the highest zombie population:

1. Johannesburg, South Africa
2. Cape Town, South Africa
3. Lisbon, Portugal
4. New Delhi, India
5. Bangalore, India

The top five U.S. cities with the highest zombie population:

1. Kansas City, Kansas
2. St. Paul, Minnesota
3. St. Louis, Missouri
4. Sacramento, California
5. Richmond, Virginia

The top five Canadian cities with the highest zombie population:

1. Vancouver, British Columbia
2. Toronto, Ontario
3. Winnipeg, Manitoba
4. Calgary, Alberta
5. Montreal, Quebec

How do you know if your computer is a zombie?

There are some common symptoms of an infected device:

- The device running sluggish

- Unusual activity at startup

- Internet security or virus detection software disabled

- You get e-mails from auto responders that the recipient is not online or on vacation, but you do not know the recipient

- Number of tasks running on the computer exceeds what should be running

- The device running at or near capacity
(Privacy Rights Clearinghouse)

How can you protect your computer?

Zombies can enter your home or your workplace with no warning and cause widespread destruction throughout your physical and virtual community.

To protect yourself from such attacks, McAfee security experts advise a comprehensive security suite such as McAfee Total Protection™, McAfee Internet Security, and McAfee Antivirus Plus and to keep your software up to date and enable the “auto-update” feature. In addition, delete spam without opening it, avoid installing programs from questionable sources and don’t allow suspicious websites to install software.

If you think that your PC is infected with malware visit: http://home.mcafee.com/VirusInfo/VirusRemovalTools.aspx for virus removal tools and services.

Unusually, one report claims that a computer virus played a role in the deadliest air disaster in Spanish history. Others refute this claim, arguing that a virus was not the cause.

USA Today reports, “Spanish newspaper El Pais cites a 12,000-page investigative report that outlines how a computer infection, spread via an infected USB thumb drive, may have been a contributing factor. The report says a malicious program precipitated failures in a fail-safe monitoring system at the airline’s headquarters in Palma de Mallorca.”

Whether or not a virus contributed to the delay or cancellation of the flight’s departure, which led to the crash, this type of scenario is possible. Now and in the future, incidents like this may involve malicious technology.

Technology plays a role in many aspects of our lives, and when that technology is corrupted, the results can be disastrous. Consider the extent to which hospitals, banks, water treatment facilities, electrical grids, airports, gas stations, and even roads rely on technology.

Steve Stasiukonis, a penetration tester, describes how USB thumb drives can turn external threats into internal ones in two easy steps. After being hired to penetrate a network, he says, “We gathered all the worthless vendor giveaway thumb drives collected over the years and imprinted them with our own special piece of software. I had one of my guys write a Trojan that, when run, would collect passwords, logins and machine-specific information from the user’s computer, and then email the findings back to us.” 

In this scenario, the USBs were dropped in a bank parking lot, then picked up by the employees and used to compromise the network. Fortunately for the bank, this was only a test of the network’s security.

Bad guys will use every possible mechanism to accomplish their goals. Do your best to increase your security intelligence. Regardless of your job description, security is everyone’s responsibility.

Robert Siciliano is a McAfee consultant and identity theft expert. See him discuss another data breach on Good Morning America. (Disclosures)

Robert_Siciliano@McAfee.com
www.CounterIdentityTheft.com