Fergie's Tech Blog

ITU Botnet Mitigation Toolkit

A colleague alerted me to this noble effort... FYI. -ferg

Via The ITU-D Cyber Security Project Page.

Botnets (also called zombie armies or drone armies) are networks of compromised computers infected with viruses or malware to turn them into “zombies” or “robots” – computers that can be controlled without the owners’ knowledge. Criminals use the collective computing power and connected bandwidth of these externally-controlled networks for malicious purposes and criminal activities, including, inter alia, generation of spam e-mails, launching of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, alteration or destruction of data, and identity theft.

The threat from botnets is growing fast. The latest (2007) generation of botnets such as Zhelatin (Storm Worm) uses particularly aggressive techniques such as fast-flux networks and striking back with DDoS attacks against security vendors trying to mitigate them. An underground economy has now sprung up around botnets, yielding significant revenues for authors of computer viruses, botnet controllers and criminals who commission this illegal activity by renting botnets.

In response to this, ITU is developing a Botnet Mitigation Toolkit to help deal with the growing problem of botnets. Inspired by the Australian Internet Security Initiative (AISI), the toolkit draws on existing resources, identifies relevant local and international stakeholders, and takes into consideration the specific constraints of developing economies. The toolkit seeks to raise awareness among Member States of the growing threats posed by botnets and the linkage with criminal activities and incorporates policy, technical and social aspects of mitigating the effects of botnets. The first draft of the toolkit will be made available in December 2007, with pilot tests planned in a number of ITU Member States in 2008.

posted by Fergie @ 11/14/2007 06:44:00 PM