Latest Storm botnet Stories

Enid Burns for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online UK-based Spider.io has identified the Chameleon botnet, a network of over 120,000 compromised machines in the United States. Spider.io, an organization that identifies and measures human website activity and was formed at the Imperial College of London, estimates the botnet costs advertisers roughly $6.2 million a month for ad impressions served to infected computers. The Chameleon botnet is not the first of its kind. Microsoft and...

A cyber threat report(http://www.gtsecuritysummit.com/report.html) says cloud computing has become an evolving platform for botnet-based attacks. By using a Domain Generation Algorithm, attackers are able to render themselves undetectable by security devices. Hong Kong (PRWEB) February 17, 2013 The newly published Georgia Tech Emerging Cyber Threats Report for 2013, prepared by Georgia Tech Information Security Center and Georgia Tech Research Institute, has highlighted cloud-based botnet...

Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online The Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit (MDCU) has done it again, this time disrupting a crime operation which was controlling thousands of PCs without the permission or knowledge of their owners. Teaming up with Symantec, the Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit was able to bring down the Bamital botnet, which was taking over users’ web searches and guiding them to dangerous sites. These sites would then install malware on the...

Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Cyber security can be tough. Surfing the web and using online tools can sometimes feel like walking through a darkened alley. You keep your eyes peeled, always checking your back and looking for the closest escape, just in case. As careful as they may be, what’s a web-user to do when their brand new PC arrives at their door loaded with malware before they ever plug it into the series of tubes and wires that is the World Wide Web?...

John Neumann for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online A computer virus named DNS Changer was run by an Estonian crime ring until last November when authorities and the FBI shut it down. The virus, first used in 2007, hijacked users’ computers without their knowledge to generate fraudulent clicks on adverts. Although its only obvious effects were to slightly slow internet connections and to disable antivirus software, it also redirected computers to the fraudsters’ servers, reports...

Will This Monday Become Malware Mania Day? John Neumann for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Warnings have been splashed across Facebook and Google, internet service providers have sent notices, and the FBI set up a special website. However, tens of thousands of Americans may still lose their internet service Monday unless they check for (and remove) malware on their computers that may have installed itself on their machines more than a year ago. The Associated Press reports...

Michael Harper for RedOrbit.com The creator of the Bredolab botnet—a 2010 bot used mostly to send spam emails—has just been sentenced to 4 years in prison by an Armenian district court. Gregory Avanesov, a 27-year-old Russian of Armenian descent, was sentenced on charges of creating and distributing the Bredolab virus. In the end, his botnet is said to have infected more than 30 million computers globally, stealing passwords and other private information, as well as pushing emails...

Michael Harper for RedOrbit.com The Flashback botnet has been busy lately. Not only has it been making headlines for nearly a month, it’s also been avoiding security patches and infecting Mac’s all the while. Now, a new report from security firm Symantec shows the Flashback botnet was also busy earning its makers cold hard cash to the tune of $10,000 a day. At the height of its infection, the Flashback botnet controlled an estimated 700,000 Windows and OS X machines. According to...

Michael Harper for RedOrbit.com Dr. Web, the Russian security firm that first discovered the Flashback Botnet affecting thousands of Macs, says Apple’s attempts aren’t yet working. Their report, released on Friday, is contrary to reports from other security firms who claim the botnet is shrinking. Now, a new variant of the malware Flashback has been spotted and is already infecting thousands of Macs. With this new variant and conflicting estimates from different security firms,...

Russian Security Firm Dr. Web says they’ve discovered a botnet infecting nearly half a million Macs worldwide. The firm made their announcement on Wednesday about the more than 550,000 infected Macs. Later in the day, however, their malware specialist Sorokin Ivan increased this number, saying he had discovered more than 600,000 Macs on the botnet, with 274 of these Macs located at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, according to Ars Technica. Though no other security firm has been able...