Fergie's Tech Blog

eWeek: Is the Botnet Battle Already Lost?

Ryan Naraine writes on eWeek:

According to statistics released by Symantec, an average of 57,000 active bots was observed per day over the first six months of 2006.

During that period, the anti-virus vendor discovered a whopping 4.7 million distinct computers being actively used in botnets to spit out spam, launch DoS (denial of service) attacks, install malware or log keystrokes for identity theft.

Botnets filled—and easily replenished—with compromised Windows have emerged as the key hub for well-organized crime rings around the globe, using stolen bandwidth from drone zombies to make money from nefarious Internet activity, according to security experts tracking the threat.

From adware and spyware installations to spam runs and phishing attacks, CPU cycles from botnets drive a billion-dollar underground business that thrives on lax computer security and uses "money mules" to ship physical items around the world.

posted by Fergie @ 10/16/2006 01:53:00 PM