Rise of the Small Botnet

wiredmikey writes "Botnets controlled by criminal enterprises all over the world continue to multiply at a steep rate, and it is now arguably the smaller, harder-to-trace operations that organizations should be the most worried about. Not only are smaller botnets cheaper and easier to build out and operate, but criminals have already realized that large-scale botnet activity attracts unwanted attention, and not just of law enforcement."

Comments

Nothing Like a Large Botnet

[MyLongNickName]

To really do damage to a webserver, you need a large botnet.

Re:How does this make sense?

[captainpanic]

Fear actually does increase security... well... in a way.

Consultants call this fear "awareness". And if you want a general group to implement any measures, you have to "create awareness". It's a well-known fact.
So, because of the awareness, security measures are taken.

Not only the cyber security, but also physical security (security companies and weapons industry) thrive because of the awareness of all kinds of problems (security leaks, terrorism, etc).
The real question is: is the threat as big as it is portrayed?

Re:Where is the Microsoft or Windows tag?

[Spad]

The vast majority of current exploits are targeted at applications, rather than OSs; primarily Acrobat Reader and Java at the moment.

Regardless, no OS can overcome the problem of permitting users to carry out administrative tasks without allowing them to execute malicious code when they really, really want to see the dancing bunnies.

Re:Step 1. bot net - Step 2. Profit!

[Shark]

As an ISP, we actively track and warn customers that are infected. It was a bit of a hurdle at first but merely making our customers aware of the possibility has drastically decreased the number of infections despite the steady increase in number of customers.