[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #202: The Business of Bots

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OPLIN 4Cast

OPLIN 4Cast #202: The Business of Bots
November 3rd, 2010

robot 
<http://www.oplin.org/4cast/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Robot18.gif>Now 
that we've left Cybersecurity Awareness Month behind us 
(October, but you might not have seen it on your calendar) 
as well as the barrage of robot calls that always precedes 
an election, it seems like a good time to catch up on the 
news from the world of botnets 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botnet>, the pesky tools of 
cyber criminals that can take control of public PCs and turn 
them into bot zombies under the control of nasty people. 
We're not trying to give you a post-Halloween scare---if you 
keep your security software up to date you should be OK---we 
just thought it's interesting how similar the criminal 
botnet business is to many other online business ventures.

    * The rise of the small botnet
      <http://www.securityweek.com/rise-small-botnet>
      (Security Week/Ram Mohan) "Today, would-be criminals
      can choose to buy the latest version of kits such as
      ZeuS, or even ready-made botnets, for as little as
      $2,500, which is not a large sum when you consider
      that the potential rewards could quickly add up to
      tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Cracked
      versions of such tools are sometimes made available
      for free, which has caused some toolkit developers to
      add DRM protections to their software. Indeed, this
      industry has even taken advantage of the ease and
      scalability of cloud-based business models allowing
      customers to 'rent' their fully hosted botnet
      solutions for as little as $60 a day."
    * Botnet for sale business going strong
      <http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/BotnetBotnet-for-Sale-Business-Going-Strong-Security-Researchers-Say848696/>
      (eWeek/Brian Prince) "In the cyber-underground, botnet
      victims are a form of currency, Gunter Ollmann, vice
      president of research at Damballa, told eWEEK. A
      particular management tool may cost $500 to purchase
      but could be traded for 4,000 bot victims in the U.K.,
      for example. The hurdles to building a botnet are so
      low now 'any man and his dog can get started in this
      business,' he said."
    * The "Iranian Cyber Army" strikes back
      <http://blog.seculert.com/2010/10/iranian-cyber-army-strikes-back.html>
      (Seculert Research Lab) "There are numerous different
      exploit kits being sold in underground forums among
      cyber criminals. Competition in this crowded and
      lucrative market is driving authors to create exploit
      kits with sleek and sexy user interfaces, so the
      product will be more attractive to potential customers."
    * Japan has national botnet warriors
      <http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/10/japan-has-a-national-botnet-fighter-wheres-ours.ars>
      (Ars Technica/Matthew Lasar) "Cyber Clean does the
      usual good stuff, trying to raise public awareness
      about the dangers of bots. [...] But the Cyber Clean
      operation goes a massive step further than public
      education. It searches for bot-infected PCs, then
      engages in a series of 'attention rousing activities'
      to get the user to realize that her computer has been
      hijacked."

*/Japan Fact:/*

The .jp (Japan) Internet domain is one of the world's safest 
domains 
<http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/the_worlds_most_dangerous_domains.php>, 
ranking only behind .edu and .travel for lack of threats 
from malware, browser exploits, spam, aggressive pop-ups, 
and suspicious affiliations.
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