Slashdot Mirror
Storm Worm Botnet "Cracked Wide Open"
Heise Security reports that a 'team of researchers from Bonn University and RWTH Aachen University have analysed the notorious Storm Worm botnet, and concluded it certainly isn't as invulnerable as it once seemed. Quite the reverse, for in theory it can be rapidly eliminated using software developed and at least partially disclosed by Georg Wicherski, Tillmann Werner, Felix Leder and Mark Schlösser. However it seems in practice the elimination process would fall foul of the law.'
Who cares about laws? I mean, the criminals don't, the government doesn't care, is anyone still clinging to this outdated model of a coexistance standard?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Yeah and let the botnet owners see it and then write a patch for the botnets...
This falls into that whole super-hero vigilante category. Just ask yourself, what would batman do?
The guys found the "cure" of Storm Worm are university students. They did the research using the university's facilities. They have to follow the university's regulations and everything they do is pretty open to the public. Should they just triggered the switch and take over, the university may find itself in legal trouble.
Unless one of them happens to be Batman.
Colorless green Cthulhu waits dreaming furiously.
Just require a warrant from some level of federal judge.
Things might not work great at first, but the whole warrant system works pretty well, and it would provide a framework for preventing abuse and overuse.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Don't be silly. If they read SLashdot, they certainly aren't going to have RTFA, so how are they going to know what the vulnerabilities actually *are*?
If you want to stop the botnet, you need to remove its incentive. The botnet operates not for someones jollies, but because it is profitable to have a botnet. If you remove the profit motive the botnet will self-disassemble over time.
By Jove, I think you've got it! All we need to do is remove the incentive and crime just fades away! I wonder why nobody's thought of that before.
It's a botnet, not a batnet.
If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.