The botnets are alive and kicking: report

BANGALORE,INDIA: The Security Intelligence Report version 9 cautions that cybercriminals are increasingly looking at creating botnets.

Botnet is a network of computers created aimed at attacking and 'capturing' PCs to spread viruses through them to other systems.

PTI repoted quoting the version 9 that India there were as many as 38,954 computers with bots cleaned in Q2 this year compared to 37,895 computers in the previous quarter.

According to the report, the trend is widespread among cyber criminals in India too and the country ranks 25th in terms of bot infections detected and removed in the quarter ended June 2010.

A Botnet (which is a network of computers) is managed by one computer (bot herder), which attacks another PC and makes it a part of its network. The main drivers for botnets are for recognition and financial gains. Bigger the botnet, the herder will greater recognition in the cybercriminal community.

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It has been long reported that a bot herder can also offer services of the botnet to third parties. Usually they offer their services to send spam messages as they are capable of it. Due to the large numbers of machines within the botnet, huge volumes of such mails can be generated.

The Microsoft report said "It is difficult to measure with any certainty the numbers of bots and botnets in existence, and estimates from botnet researchers can vary by an order of magnitude or more. Counting the number of bot-infected computers found and cleaned by antivirus software can sometimes yield figures that are very different from estimates produced by researchers who concentrate on the effects of botnets, such as the amounts and origins of spam and the number of known active C and C servers. There is no widespread agreement about which methods are best for estimating the size of botnets. The information presented in this section is intended as a straightforward presentation of telemetry data produced by Microsoft tools and services, and should not be taken as making or supporting any particular estimates of botnet size and scope."

Further, the report adds that understanding how botnets work is the first step in protecting organizations and individuals from their threat. The next step is to construct a strategy–both offensive and defensive–that keeps pace with the continuing evolution of the botnet landscape.

According to Microsoft, understanding how botnets work is the first step in protecting organizations and individuals from their threat. The next step is to construct a strategy–both offensive and defensive–that keeps pace with the continuing evolution of the botnet landscape. Botnet detection using static and behavioral analyses and defense tactics such as honeypots and darknets are important aspects of the fight against botnets.