Cerf

Internet pioneer and Google exec Vint Cerf warned that a quarter of all PCs connected to the internet - around 150 million - could be infected by Trojans that seize control of a computer and its broadband connection, allowing criminals in remote locations to access them.

Cerf was speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, writes CNET. Vast networks of compromised PCs - sometimes termed zombies - are used by criminals for sending spam, installing spyware and launching denial-of-service attacks are reported to be growing at an alarming rate, all the while getting more sophisticated, smaller and stealthier.

One such botnet, Spam Thru, apparently has its own antivirus protection to clear other botnets and has the potential to be 10 times more "productive" than most other botnets while evading detection because of built-in defenses.

Spam Thru may have been testing the waters, causing a major spike in traffic toward the end of 2006 - and much worse could come,particularly when other similarly sophisticated botnets appear.