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FBI's Bot Roast II Sees Great Success
coondoggie passed us another Network World link, this one discussing the FBI's newest offensive against botnets. They're calling it Operation Bot Roast II. Apparently it's already been quite successful, leading to indictments, search warrants, and the uncovering of some '$20 million in economic loss. writes "Today, botnets are the weapon of choice of cyber criminals. They seek to conceal their criminal activities by using third party computers as vehicles for their crimes. In Bot Roast II, we see the diverse and complex nature of crimes that are being committed through the use of botnets," said FBI Director Robert S. Mueller. "Despite this enormous challenge, we will continue to be aggressive in finding those responsible for attempting to exploit unknowing Internet users." I can't help but think, though: how many more of these things are out there that this 'sting' didn't touch?
And what was the cost of this project to begin with?
So basically, -1 troll/offtopic is really slashdots way of saying "I hate that you thought of something before me."
Nobody on Slashdot trusts governments, but you make vague claims about widespread government and business use of botnets. Care to show us some examples?
I don't understand why the NSA needs a botnet; they have all the computing power they need and know how to spoof anything else. They don't need your computer to do their dirtywork; they can do it all on their own.
If the cost of a burglary investigation is likely to exceed the cost of the burglary, do the police not investigate?
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While they did work to take down some botnets, they could only take out the criminals where they had jurisdiction - which is in the USA. Yes they work with Interpol and have made some symbolic arrests overseas. By and large, the botherders and real criminals continue to operate from countries with internet access combined with a dysfunctional or non-existent legal system (think Russia, Nigeria, Brazil), or simply where the computer crime laws have yet to catch up with the technology (think Spain, Portugal). Countries such as Russia, Brazil are high up on that list of professional criminals that are able to afford the bribes necessary to stay in business.
Good security is based upon reality and common sense. Common sense is a function of having common knowledge.
Who wants totally uncontrolled system? Weed at 18, harder drugs at 21, no PCP or Oxy without prescription. Fair? Tax the lot of it and let transparent companies take control of the market and you eliminate virtually all of the violence associated with the drug trade. As it is, we simply enrich the kingpins and encourage more people to get into the business.