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A Mercenary Approach To Botnets
CowboyRobot writes "The incentives are high for many businesses and government agencies to not be too heavy handed in combating the global botnet pandemic. There's money to be had and, with each passing day, more interesting ways are being uncovered in how to package the data, and how to employ it. It used to be that the worlds of bug hunters and malware analysts were separate and far between. In the last couple of years the ability to analyze malware samples and identify exploitable vulnerabilities in them has become very important. Given that some botnets have a bigger pool of victims than many commercial software vendors have licensed customers, the value of an exploit that grants reliable remote control of a popular malware agent is rising in value. In many ways, botnets have become a golden goose to those charged with gathering intelligence on the populations of foreign entities. The bulk of the victim's data is useful for mapping populations, communication profiles, and as egress points for counter intelligence exercises. Then, given how many botnet victims there are, the probability that a few 'interesting' computers will have succumbed along the way is similarly high — providing direct insight in to a pool of high value targets."
Great. Slashdot has been subverted by the NSA ... again.
This time they're trying to push their propaganda on us. "Oh yes, botnets are bad, but oh my, aren't they neat?".
- Nec Impar Pluribus, or so I'm told.
Is that I just noticed that CowboyNeal has been replaced by a Robot.
Nobodies Prefect
Tidbits for Techs Technology Blog
People have told you how bad botnets are but those people are bad, mmmkay? And if you think botnets are bad, then you're bad, because botnet aren't bad, mmmkay? mmmkay? mmmkay!
Nobodies Prefect
Tidbits for Techs Technology Blog
When i come across a botnet, i just tend to shut the whole thing down and collect any bitcoin there is to be had.
Lately many warez release posted on NNTP are packaged with a malware-ish bitcoin miner that connects to a remote pool.
Those privates pools are vulnerable more often than not in some way.
It's always enjoyable to start a new game with a bonus amount of PO :)
we shall treat them like the bad guys. I learned French history in school. Did you?
So you'll surrender?
we shall treat them like the bad guys. I learned French history in school.
Did you cover the part where the glorious revolution elevated a dictator that that united the whole of Europe against France, got hundreds of thousands of French soldiers killed, and cost France her self-determination for two or three generations? It might be satisfying to root for revolutions where the former powers-that-be get lined up and shot (or guillotined), but they never seem to end real well for the peoples involved.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
How much French history? Didn't go so well the first few years there....
It is a real shame criminals broke your door in and stole some stuff. However, we recommend leaving your door broken, as it allows us (the good guys, just trust us), to look around and make sure everything is oka and keep an aye on the criminals activity.
Silence is a state of mime.
My favorite term that explains everything that's wrong with having a CEO who is technologically clueless: whaling
"I'll call you... Lovisa. Let's go kill a whole lot of people now, Lovisa!"
Oh, I thought they were going to post the silk road web site where you can donate bitcoins to take down the operator/owner of malware/spam and botnets. Maybe next time.
"combating the global botnet pandemic"
I am responsible for the well-being of close to a hundred servers and run several computers on my home net. Have been for over a decade and I am yet to see one becoming a bot. Hyperbole much?
between so called 'legitimate software' and botnets these days anyway?
Each is used to collect data that can be analyzed for profit in various ways. Legitimate software, you might argue, provides actual value to the end-user, is not surreptitiously installed and doesn't exploit software vulnerabilities. However, if that's all it takes to be legit, then witness the gobs of commercial software (not to mention greyware) out there that fit the definition of 'legit', but in actuality provide only the thinnest veneer of value behind a EULA so broad that it allows the software vendor to pretty much do as they please across your hard drive and Internet connection.
People have told you how bad botnets are but those people are bad, mmmkay?
Them NSA are like bank robbers.
They rob away the privacy of HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE without even blinking an eye.
Them botnet operators ? They are like safe crackers.
Safe crackers get to crack safes no matter if they are inside the bank vaults or inside somebody's bedroom.
They don't really need bank robbers.
But on the other hand, bank robbers doing a heist may need safe crackers to crack open the vault.
Neither of them are goodie two shoes. but the robbers need the safe crackers more than the other way around.
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
There's apparently a very large number of machines where people don't pay very much attention to their well being and such things have sunk into a malware swamp. That's where most of that vast supply of spam is coming from. I'd say the "hyperbole" is because the number of infected machines is far beyond the dreams of bad SF from a decade or so back.
Cool, everything has a way of working out right, doesn't it?
Except France wasn't broken up and parted out for the rest of Europe and we still have to tolerate it's silliness and attitude.
Oh well, it wasn't like nobody tried. In retrospect, Hitler wasn't wrong about EVERYTHING and did give us the Volkswagen too.
I like the Mel Brooks version of the history, probably more accurate and a Roman soldier with a giant joint, saves the day with a Miracle.
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
Willingly allowing botnets to survive to collect data is much like a doctor with the cure letting a nasty disease to spread just to see who it infects and if anything interesting happens, and maybe loot a few corpses.
It's not the Hippocratic Oath, rather it's more of a Hypocrite Oath.
To those who don't know those two, the Hippocratic Oath is the one doctors take to do no harm. Actually it's a lot more complex than that, but tv writers only use soundbites at best.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocratic_Oath
As to a Hypocrite, that's someone who indulges in Hypocrisy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypocrisy
Intelligent_Agent BotNet Data_Mining ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_agent
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_agent
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_artificial_intelligence
Unaccountable leaders are masters, and unrepresented people are slaves. How do US and EU fare?