VB Migration

Tag: botnet

  • Researchers crack into Storm botnet

    Comms channels decrypted, automated removal possible. A group of German academics claim to have deciphered communications protocols used by the infamous ‘Storm’ botnet, allowing them to monitor infected nodes and control systems, and potentially to deactivate and disinfect them remotely. The collaborative operation between two German universities saw samples of the Storm malware, and the…

  • Disconnection of dubious provider sees spam levels plummet

    Web-hosting firm believed to be responsible for 75% of spam. Anti-spam researchers across the world reported a significant drop in the volume of spam seen after web-hosting firm McColo was taken offline on Tuesday. The San Jose, California-based provider is believed to have hosted many botnet control centres that controlled zombies around the world and…

  • Riders on a Storm

    Researchers hijack botnet – and find spam success rates lower than previously believed. Less than 1 in 12 million spam emails sent through the infamous Storm botnet led to a purchase attempt, according to researchers at the University of California in San Diego and Berkeley – a much lower spam success rate than previously estimated.…

  • Storm mails bring spoof World War 3 news

    US-Iran war story used as hook for malware barrage. The Storm botnet has been spamming in force again in the past week, with its expected run targeting 4th of July celebrations in the US swiftly followed by a second campaign carrying news of a fictitious invasion of Iran by US forces. The mails have hyperbolic…

  • MAAWG unveils spam and botnet battling policies

    Working group of ISPs and net operators issue traffic calming guidelines. Global collaboration body the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG) has ratified a set of guidelines developed by groups of members from around the world, and approved at a recent group meeting, aimed at combating botnets and spam at an ISP level. The guidelines focus…

  • 41 months plus hefty fine for botherder

    Cross-border operation brings adware crook to book. A Florida man has been sentenced to 41 months in prison and fined $65,000 (approx. £32,000) after implanting bot software on systems belonging to a global corporation and using them to install adware. When brought before US courts in March, the man, Robert Matthew Bentley of Panama City,…

  • ‘Kraken’ monster botnet causing controversy

    As latest botnet scare debated, Storm keeps on blowing. Recent reports of a massive botnet, apparently sneaking its trojans past security software and far outnumbering better-known infections such as ‘Storm’, have been dismissed as hype by some analysts but firmly upheld by the researchers who first alerted on the threat. The botnet has been dubbed…

  • HP ships infected USB keys

    Autorun worms found on batch of server setup devices. A batch of USB thumb drives containing software intended to assist in the setup of servers have been found to contain some nasty extras, in the shape of worms using the autorun feature to infect systems connected to the removable devices. The drives were shipped to…

  • Cybercriminals charged in New Zealand, Korea

    Law closes in on alleged botnet master and rogue anti-spyware maker. Police in New Zealand have charged an 18-year-old in connection with a botnet he is suspected of building and controlling, while in South Korea the head of a company pushing a rogue anti-malware product has also been indicted on fraud charges. In the New…

  • Botnet-herding team arrested in Quebec

    Gang held for managing million-machine zombie net. Canadian police have announced the arrests of up to 17 people in Quebec, in connection with a major botnet operation thought to have controlled as many as 1 million compromised systems all around the world. The Quebec and national police were behind a series of raids across the…