Gaming Botnet Bleeds Over To The Enterprise

Botnets come in all shapes and sizes and if you can’t find one that fits your unique purposes off-the-rack, it’s trivial to create a custom one using a do-it-yourself construction kit – which helps to explain the diversity we’re seeing within the enterprise. In general though, enterprise-targeted...

The Debate Over Naming Botnets

The security industry lacks a uniform way to title botnets, and the result is sometimes a long list of names for the same botnet that are used by different antivirus vendors and that can be confusing to customers. As it stands now, the infamous Conficker is also known as Downup, Downadup and Kido...

Malicious Google AppEngine Used to Control Botnet

Arbor Networks researcher Jose Nazario has spotted a malicious Google AppEngine application being used to control a botnet of infected computers. The Google App Engine is feeding URLs to the zombies hijacked machines for them to download, Nazario explained. Read the full blog post arbornetworks.c...

How to Take Down a Botnet

The botnet problem has reached epidemic levels in recent months, with the continued growth of large-scale botnets, as well as the identification of smaller, more targeted networks around the world. But researchers have been taking steps to disrupt botnets of late, with some notable successes, as...

Spam Botnet Gaining Traction

Upping its output of spam by nearly 5 percent in recent weeks, a new botnet called Festi has grabbed the attention of researchers, cracking the list of top 10 most prolific spamming botnets. The botnet has apparently pumped up the volume of spam by recruiting more bots, about 60 percent of which...

Where Are We A Year After McColo Shutdown?

In the year since the shutdown of notorious Web hosting firm McColo, spammers are growing strong. Part of this is the result of improvements by botnet operators. Like anyone who is successful what they do, the people controlling the most powerful botnets in cyber-space learn from their mistakes...

Update Protection against Recent Malware Threats (2-Nov-09)

The update includes new protections against 10 recent malware threats: Botnet: Backdoor.Win32.Httpbot.yiTrojan: Packed.Win32.Krap.wTrickler: Trojan.Win32.Agent2.kxuTrickler: Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Pher.ijTrickler: Trojan-Downloader.Win32.SillyFDC-DSWorm: W32.FnumbotWorm:...

Facebook Password-Reset Spam is Botnet Attack

Virus hunters are raising the alarm for a large-scale spam attack that uses fake Facebook password-reset messages to trick PC users into downloading a dangerous piece of malware. The malicious executable is linked to the Bredolab botnet, which has been linked to massive spam runs and identity-the...

Botnet-Infected Computers Powering Click Fraud

According to new data from ClickForensics, botnet-infected computers are behind the majority of click-fraud attacks against advertisers and publishers. For the third quarter this year, about 43 percent of all fraudulent clicks came from computers within botnets. The figure is the highest in four...

Dave Dittrich on Botnets, Conficker and the Evolution of Malware

Dennis Fisher talks with Dave Dittrich of the University of Washington, one of the top botnet and malware researchers in the industry, about the evolution of botnets and malware, the innovations of the Nugache botnet and the monetization of large-scale botnets. Download Subscribe to the Digital...

On the Outlook Web Access Attacks, Adobe and Microsoft Patch Releases

In this episode, Ryan and Dennis discuss the Outlook Web Access phishing attacks, the huge Microsoft and Adobe patch releases and the massive scope of the botnet problem. Download SHOW NOTES: Zeus Trojan Part of New Outlook Web Access Phishing Scam Microsoft Ships Largest Batch of Security Patche...

Outlook Web Access Attack Using Pushdo Botnet

Here are some technical details on the Outlook Web Access phishing scheme. 1. The Spam According to our preliminary research, the spam emails which attacked OWA users, including Kaspersky, were sent using the pushdo botnet – which is based on malware from the Backdoor.Win32.NewRes family. These...

New Koobface Campaign Spoofs Adobe's Flash Updater

The botnet masters behind the most efficient social engineering driven botnet, Koobface, launched a new campaign currently spreading across Facebook with a new template spoofing Adobe’s Flash updater embedded within a fake YouTube page. Read the full story zdnet.com/Dancho Danchev...

Comcast Alerts Customers to PC Infections

CNet’s Elinor Mills has the scoop on a Comcast trial of a new automated service that will warn broadband customers of possible virus infections, if the computers are behaving as if they have been compromised by malware. For instance, a significant overnight spike in traffic being sent from a...

Botnet Caught Red Handed Stealing From Google

A recently discovered botnet has been caught siphoning ad revenue away from Google, Yahoo! and Bing and funneling it to smaller networks. According to researchers at Click Forensics, computers that are part of the so-called Bahama Botnet are infected with malware that sends them to counterfeit...

Malware Economy is Thriving

TORONTO — The legitimate economy may be in rough shape right now, but the same cannot be said for the underground economy. Malware authors and botmasters are thriving, experts say, with some online criminals charging as much as $3,500 for their attack toolkits. But don’t be intimidated by the hig...

Inside the URLZone Trojan Network

Security researchers tracking the URL Zone malware/botnet have stumbled upon a new tactic being used by cyber-criminals to hide information on the money mules being used to transfer stolen funds from compromised online bank accounts. URLZone, which targets computer users in Western Europe, is a...

Botnet Hiding Commands as JPEG Images

Security researchers have stumbled on a new botnet that uses an interesting technique to mask its nefarious intentions. The Monkif/DIKhora botnet, which is pushing out Trojan downloaders to infected machines, is encoding the instructions to appear as if the command-and-control server is returning...

From Gimmiv to Conficker: MS08-067 Under The Microscope

GENEVA — The critical MS08-067 vulnerability used by the Conficker worm to build a powerful botnet continues to be a lucrative security hole for cybercriminals. During a presentation at the Virus Bulletin 2009 conference here, a trio of Microsoft researchers dissected the malware attacks linked t...

Koobface, Twitter Attacks Growing More Sophisticated

GENEVA — The attacks and scams that have been affecting users of Facebook, Twitter and other popular social networking sites are continuing to evolve and improve, as the attackers learn more about their victims and refine their tactics, experts say. The poster child for these attacks has been the...