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Chapter 1 • Botnets: A Call to Action
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effectiveness of our best weapon. Many of us had been touting the slogan “cut
off the head of the snake.”The network and security professionals had been
moving to implement a large-scale implementation of that in May. In hindsight,
the war wasn’t lost, although it was a significant battle.This war will never be
won or lost.The war between good and evil, like the road, goes ever on.
Instead of declaring surrender, a call to action has been issued. Network
and security professionals gathered in August of 2006, with follow-on meet-
ings planned throughout 2007. In these meetings, a clearer view of the
problem is emerging. Innovations are being shared and improved upon. For
the new threat, new strategies and tools are being forged.The remainder of
this book will bring you up to speed to join the battle.
Solutions Fast Track
The Killer Web App
■
The botnet is modular—one module exploits the vulnerabilities it
finds to gain control over its target.
■
A botnet is adaptive; it can be designed to download different
modules to exploit specific things that it finds on a victim.
■
Botnet attacks are targetable.That is, the hacker can target a company
or a market sector for these attacks.
How Big Is the Problem?
■
Since January 2005, Microsoft has been delivering the Windows
Malicious Software Removal Tool to its customers. After 15 months,
Microsoft announced that it had removed 16 million instances of
malicious software from almost six million unique computers.
According to the Microsoft report “Progress Made,Trends Observed,”
bots represented a majority of the removals.
■
If left unabated, the botnet plague could threaten the future of the
Internet, just as rampant crime and illegal drug use condemn the
economic future of real neighborhoods.