Skip to navigation

PCPro-Computing in the Real World Printed from www.pcpro.co.uk

Register to receive our regular email newsletter at http://www.pcpro.co.uk/registration.

The newsletter contains links to our latest PC news, product reviews, features and how-to guides, plus special offers and competitions.

Latest News

Botnets multiply in growing security threat

Posted on 20 Apr 2005 at 17:15

It's no secret that US and European companies are jumping up and down at the chance to outsource production to China. But so are hackers, according to email security specialist CipherTrust.

Botnets - networks of thousands of infected computers that can be remotely controlled by a single attacker - have been a problem since 2002, when they first started be available commercially on the online black market. Spammers use them to send out floods of junk mail, and cyber criminals can commandeer them to attack the websites of online betting shops in extortion rackets.

While the botnet hotbed has traditionally been in the US - if only for the sheer numbers of online systems there - criminals are turning their attention to China to create botnets, essentially outsourcing their activities.

Current thinking puts the rise of zombie networks at up to 350,000 new machines a month. But CipherTrust, which makes email scanning appliances, says the email it has looked at across some 10 million inboxes, shows an even more dramatic rise: up to 157,000 newly infected machines a day. And 20 per cent of those originate in China.

However, the attacks used to create zombie networks are usually indiscriminate in their victims - the only factor affecting the geographical spread would be if the malicious code is carried in an email, the language of which would affect where it is most likely to be successful.

So the statistics are more evident of a mass of poorly protected computers coming online in China.

Dr. Paul Judge, CipherTrust chief technology officer said: 'While the information regarding the number of new zombies per day and the percent originating from China is staggering, it's not necessarily surprising given the number of new Internet users in China.'

Author: Matt Whipp

Be the first to comment this article

You need to Login or Register to comment.

(optional)

advertisement

Latest Blog Posts Subscribe to our RSS Feeds
Latest Reviews Subscribe to our RSS Feeds
Latest Real World Computing

advertisement

Sponsored Links
 
SEARCH
SIGN UP

Your email:

Your password:

remember me

advertisement


Hitwise Top 10 Website 2008