A copycat spam gang has developed a botnet that is currently responsible for more than 20 per cent of all spam in circulation, according to Marshal’s threat research TRACE Team. The botnet now has the ability to distribute similar amounts of spam as the notorious Storm botnet. Marshal has touted the spammers responsible for this botnet the “Celebrity Spam Gang”, owing to their fondness for using celebrity names in their spam.

The Celebrity Gang has been building up their botnet since August 2006. They have managed this by spamming out messages with malware attachments that commonly feature subject lines about nude celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Britney Spears but have also promised free games and Windows Security Updates. PC users should not open executable files attached to email messages from email addresses they do not recognise or trust and to refrain from opening any message that purports to feature nude celebrities. Botnet wars: Celebrity Spam Gang competes with Storm Gang - Security Park news

Technorati Tags: Botnet, botnet wars, celebrity spam, spam, storm