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Meet the Botnet Hunters

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the volunteer-fun dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Washington Post is running a pretty decent story about 'Shadowserver,' one of a growing number of volunteer groups dedicated to infiltrating and disabling botnets. The story covers not only how these guys do their work but the pitfalls of bothunting as well. From the article: 'Even after the Shadowserver crew has convinced an ISP to shut down a botmaster's command-and-control channel, most of the bots will remain infected. Like lost sheep without a shepherd, the drones will continually try to reconnect to the hacker's control server, unaware that it no longer exists. In some cases, Albright said, a botmaster who has been cut off from his command-and-control center will simply wait a few days or weeks, then re-register the domain and reclaim stranded bots.'"

5 of 194 comments (clear)

  1. Botnet Hunters! by blinkless · · Score: 5, Funny

    We don't need their scum.

  2. Bitter irony, Slashdot is thy home (or hangout...) by The_REAL_DZA · · Score: 5, Funny
    "...Albright sent an e-mail to the FBI including all the evidence he collected about the attack..."
    Apparently, Mr. Albright doesn't frequent Slashdot or watch CNN...
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  3. Great plot! by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 4, Funny

    This whole loose-knit bunch of humans doing their part against a force of cold, malignant bots has a great edge to it! Someone should make a movie or three like this.

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    Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
  4. Be vewy vewy quiet... by Tackhead · · Score: 5, Funny
    Be vewy vewy quiet! We're hunting botnets!

    Buggy bot: Would you like to shut us down now or wait 'till you get home?
    Daffy fuck: SHUT HIM DOWN NOW! SHUT HIM DOWN NOW!
    Buggy bot: You keep out of this. He doesn't have to shut you down now.
    Daffy fuck: He does SO have to shut me down now! I demand that you shut me down now. (Nyeah!)

    Spammer: daffy# shutdown -now
    Botnet: *reboots*

    Daffy fuck: Let's read those logs again.
    Buggy bot: Okay. bugbot: would you like to shut us down now or wait 'till you get home?
    Daffy fuck: daffy: shut him down now
    Buggy bot: bugbot: you keep out of this, he doesn't have to shut you down now
    Daffy fuck: Aha! Hold it right there. DNS cacne poisoning. It's not 'he doesn't have to shut you down now, it's he doesn't have to shut me down now.' Well, I say he does have to shut me down now! So shut me down now!

    Spammer: daffy# shutdown -now
    Botnet: *reboots*

  5. Hey, I've seen that mentality before! by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Funny
    Like lost sheep without a shepherd, the drones will continually try to reconnect...
    Sounds like my sister when her cell phone cuts out.
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    My work here is dung.