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Massive Botnet Returns From the Dead To Spam On

Posted by timothy on from the late-entry-for-hallowe'en dept.

CWmike writes "Gregg Keizer reports that the big spam-spewing Srizbi botnet, shut down two weeks ago when McColo was shuttered, has been resurrected and is again under the control of criminals, security researchers said today. As of late Tuesday, infected PCs were able to successfully reconnect with new command-and-control servers, which are now based in Estonia, said Fengmin Gong, chief security content officer at FireEye. The comeback confirms what researchers noted last week, that Srizbi had a fallback strategy. So, in the end, that strategy paid off for the criminals who control the botnet."

18 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. Zombies!!!!! by syousef · · Score: 5, Funny

    Argh! Zombies!!!!! They're bound to be after brains! Well they'll find none here! Take that you evil zombies.

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  2. Further Proof by MaxwellEdison · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Further proof that crime doesn't pay. Unless you have a reliable business plan, of course.

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    -=Bang Bang=-
    1. Re:Further Proof by Lobster+Quadrille · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's nice to see that somebody's IT department has the funding and expertise to implement a backup plan.

      It gives me hope.

      --
      "The cup is in turn designed for holding hot or cold liquids, and has an open rim and closed base." --US Patent #5425497
    2. Re:Further Proof by julian67 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Actually there isn't money to be made this way because all those unhappy customers demanding refunds will be expensive. The idea that you can clean an infected Windows PC by installing product A or B or C is mistaken. The whole idea that security is a boxed product or is available by clicking an .exe/.msi installer is bogus. Assuming that the malware on these infected computers is even known to the AV companies (and that's no longer a reasonable assumption in most cases) then the only way to actually remove it effectively is by running the AV tools from read only media, i.e. a live CD. Well designed malware will simply disallow the installation/use/updating of common AV software. The malware authors are streets ahead of the "security" vendors. The AV products installed on a clean machine can't even prevent many of these problems let alone cure them. Most Windows users would be better advised to save their pennies and re-install from original media, always be patched and up to date (applications as well as OS), run as unprivileged user with strong passwords on all accounts and browse only with Firefox + privoxy + noscript + adblock. That isn't perfect but it's zero financial cost and way more effective than anything Symantec, McAfee etc can offer. Unfortunately running Windows with an unprivileged account is as convenient as toothache.

    3. Re:Further Proof by jargon82 · · Score: 5, Informative

      I've been running my windows XP laptop as non-admin for over 2 years. It's not as bad as you say. Two things keep me going. Superior SU, found here: http://www.stefan-kuhr.de/supsu/main.php3 and make me admin, found here: http://blogs.msdn.com/aaron_margosis/archive/2004/07/24/193721.aspx. Between the two, running non-admin is quite comfortable with a bit of practice.

    4. Re:Further Proof by blhack · · Score: 5, Informative

      A little windows trickery:

      Right click on internet explorer and click "Run As" run it as admin.
      type C:\ into the address bar. Navigate to whatever folder the programs you want to run are in and run them. Anything that spawns from here will be running as admin.

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  3. Going back in time ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "the big spam-spewing Srizbi botnet, shut down two weeks ago when McColo was shuttered, has been resurrected and is again under the control of criminals"

    I'd love to go back in the '50s, find one of those future drawing artists, show him that head news, and ask him to draw what he think that means in the year 2008.

    Hilarity ensue.

    1. Re:Going back in time ... by DahGhostfacedFiddlah · · Score: 5, Funny

      Never fails - I never have mod points when I see posts worthy of them.

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      Last post!
    2. Re:Going back in time ... by Reality+Master+101 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I don't know what he'd draw, but I know it'd be covered in chrome. :)

      --
      Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
    3. Re:Going back in time ... by denis-The-menace · · Score: 5, Funny

      I guess it would a giant, dilapidated 50's-style robot vomiting a stream of cans of spams to crowds of innocent people.

      --
      Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
  4. They stopped them once. by Finallyjoined!!! · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now do it again. Rinse, repeat, until there's nowhere left for them to host the "command and control" servers.

    The sooner the better. My good:spam ratio is almost 5:95 at the moment :-(

    --
    If I had an Ass, I'd call it Fanny Bottom, then I could slap my Ass; Fanny Bottom, on the Arse.
    1. Re:They stopped them once. by snowraver1 · · Score: 5, Funny

      If by 5:95 you mean 1:19. Didn't your math teacher teach you to reduce your fractions/ratios?

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  5. What intriques me... by powerslave12r · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ..most is how efficiently the bad guys always work. Its just astounding.

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    Real men read Slashdot articles at -1, bottom up.
    1. Re:What intriques me... by Yvan256 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well of course. With no worker unions, government bureaucracy or international laws to get in the way, they have it easier than your average law-abiding citizens and companies.

    2. Re:What intriques me... by Marc+Desrochers · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No red tape, no bureaucratic processes, no politics, no concern about being polite and correct about everything. Also, no customer support. It's a wonder what you can accomplish by not giving a shit who you inconvenience. Just get the job done well enough that it works.

  6. Thats strange... by pillowcase1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I know it's off topic, but my machine was running great for a couple weeks... now its all slow again.

  7. We don't need no stinking backups... by Anonymous+Monkey · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have worked in more than a few offices that have no backup plans for when things go wrong; power outs, network outages, supply chain disruptions, and the like would stop work cold. I find it amusing that a band of criminals are running a more flexible and 'professional' operation than many ligament businesses.

    --
    We are the Borg...
  8. A McColo with Fries by INeededALogin · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... and a Coke