Uncovering Suspicious Posts on Abandoned Blogs

As the Internet evolves, the diversification of information dissemination has led to the growth of various social media platforms and an increase in abandoned blogs. These abandoned blogs, if not properly managed, present a significant security risk. In this study, we introduce “Zombified Blogs,” defined as blogs deserted by their administrators and targeted for continuous submissions of unsolicited malicious content. We explore the causes and effects of this global phenomenon on a large scale, using data from multiple blog services over the past 18 years for the first time. To this end, we propose an innovative method for the continuous identification and collection of Zombified Blogs using a search engine. We analyzed data spanning 18 years, encompassing approximately 1.5 million blog posts, including 258, 547 malicious posts, across 1,141 Zombified Blogs on six different blog services. Our findings show a significant rise in malicious posts, primarily social engineering attacks, over the past four years on previously active blogs. We identify the email posting function as a critical area exploited by attackers, leading to the unintended posting of content. Finally, we provide an overview of the current challenges facing blog services and administrators, and discuss potential content management solutions.