The botnet Whack-a-Mole game is just beginning
Thursday, March 4th 2010 @ 6:18 AM (not yet rated)
So, it's nice that a complex story of super-sleuthing and international cooperation has come to an end for the Mariposa botnet. We can all sleep much easier knowing that these 12 million zombie PC's are no longer being held hostage (click HERE for the Associated Press story from Jordan Robinson). But, this is just the beginning of a new phase in computer infections by malicious software that's smarter than its owners.
According to the AP story, the owners of the Mariposa botnet were just "ordinary every day guys" with no previous criminal records that used very powerful software developed and supported by sophisticated underworld hackers. The hackers who wrote this botnet were not caught. So, I'm sure we can expect to hear more from them in the future.
By the way, here's how Mariposa was usually spread, according to the article:
It turned out that the botnet runners had infected computers by instant-messaging malicious links to contacts on infected computers. They also got viruses onto removable thumb drives and through peer-to-peer networks. The program used to create the botnet was known as Mariposa, from the Spanish word for "butterfly."
Sound familiar? These, plus infected PDF files are the most common ways for malware to spread. Please tell your friends and associates to be careful with any links or unknown devices. There are more of these kinds of infections coming - for sure.
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