Fergie's Tech Blog

Botnets: A Global Pandemic

Brian Krebs writes on Security Fix:

Some information security experts say the mainstream Internet security companies have inadvertently yet drastically understated the seriousness and threat posed by the global bot epidemic.

"So far, information security companies and researchers have focused on discrete infections: a particular virus or worm, or the outbreak-of-the-week," said David Dagon, a Ph.D. student at Georgia Tech who is working with researchers at the Honeynet Alliance, an international volunteer group whose members are conducting some of the most detailed research into the modern botnet craze.

Dagon says combating the worm du jour is necessary in the short term, but that many of the Internet's most pressing security problems -- from spam to online financial scams to distributed denial-of-service attacks -- have a root cause in botnets.

"We should pursue a root-cause solution, instead of treating the latest symptom," Dagon said.

posted by Fergie @ 2/19/2006 12:25:00 PM