Three years ago, security experts began warning us of a dark criminal element that was slowly spreading across the web called “botnets”. Botnets, short for “robot networks”, proved to be as sinister as they were effective. A botnet consisting of hundreds or thousands of broadband-connected home PCs could be used in unison to unleash a crippling wave of data upon a website, knocking it offline, or to send out millions of spam email missives promising bogus get-rich-quick schemes and greater powers in the sack. Website operators and ordinary netizens were largely powerless against these digital intrusions. But, there’s good news, we were told: the botnets are comprised of our computers. If each individual computer user were to invest in the latest anti-virus software the number of vulnerable computers would shrink in numbers and botnets would lose their firepower, we were advised. Three years on, how have we fared? Poorly. Last month, an FBI task force revealed that it had now traced over 1 million infected PCs under the control of a cyber criminal enterprise. The number of computer users who are unwittingly recruited into this zombie army increases daily despite a recent crackdown that has put a few botnet kingpins behind bars, the FBI said. Operation Bot Roast Earlier this year, the FBI launched “Operation Bot Roast” to track down the main botnet operators. In recent weeks, the FBI nabbed three men believed to be in control of vast zombie networks comprising PCs around the world. One was Robert Alan Soloway, a.k.a “The Spam King”. The 27-year-old businessman was arrested in Seattle last month, accused of sending tens of millions of spam messages across the planet via hijacked personal computers. He pleaded guilty and awaits trial. The other scalps include two men, one from Texas, the other from Kentucky, who are also accused of controlling massive botnet enterprises. The Feds hope to put these men behind bars as they did in 2005 with Jeanson James Ancheta, the first high-profile botnet operators to be convicted. He is currently serving a five-year prison term. Anchetta, a hacker in his early 20s, pleaded guilty to controlling more than 100,000 machines, amassing a tidy take of more than $61,000. Read page two.

Published on 26 June 2007