BBC Purchase Botnet from Hackers, It is illegal, Unethical or OK?

BBC's technology program "Click" purchased a botnet recently as part of an experiment meant to show how botnets can do damage. But by putting money in the hands of hackers, did BBC's program do more harm than good?

Sources:
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/BBC-Program-Purchases-Botnet-Touches-off-Ethical-Debate-859181/

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2009/03/bbc_botnet_expe.html

Computer Malware and Preventive Recommendations

Computer Malware and Preventive Recommendations

It’s often what we don’t know can hurt us the most…

That is the case when it comes to the effects of malware such as computer viruses, worms and Trojans.

Botnets are one of the fastest growing and the most dangerous threat on the Internet today. “Bot” stands for robot, which is a piece of software with some intelligence to perform a task and the “net” stands for network which is the collection of these individual bots under one controlling person called a bot herder.

The interesting thing is not all bots are bad, for example, intelligent software agents used in Microsoft Word or the ones used by search engine sites like Google are here to help the end user, whereas bots such as the Storm and Kragen botnet collection are here to disrupt end user activities.

The bots are small executable files that are very easy to spread. They can be spread through spam, music files located on file sharing systems, various Microsoft vulnerabilities that are not patched and host on a web site that pushes it to visitors in a technique call “drive-by download” (Very nasty and stealthy).

The thing that makes these bots so dangerous is their exponential growth factor. As more systems are infected, they also begin to scan to look for vulnerable system. Since additional computer systems use their recourses to recruit other systems, the growth can be enormous in a short period of time.

My recommendations are:
* Use a Mac OS X based system or even a Linux-based system if possible, if not

1. Make sure you have security controls in place (eg. Firewall, Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware and IDS)
2. Make user they are licensed and updated regularly
3. Make sure you run them frequently or have them run at a time your computer will be on
4. Do not download free miscellaneous software from the Internet (eg. Screensavers and games)
5. Do not open attachments if you do not know from whom it is from or what the attachment is.
6. Just be smart

For more information on botnets, their effects and detailed recommendation to prevent and remove malware, check out http://www.securityorb.com/

Computer Malware and Preventive Recommendations

It’s often what we don’t know can hurt us the most…

That is the case when it comes to the effects of malware such as computer viruses, worms and Trojans.

Botnets are one of the fastest growing and the most dangerous threat on the Internet today. “Bot” stands for robot, which is a piece of software with some intelligence to perform a task and the “net” stands for network which is the collection of these bots.

Not all bots are bad, for example, intelligent software agents used in Microsoft Word or the ones used by search engine sites like Google are here to help the end user, whereas bots such as the Storm and Kragen botnet collection are here to disrupt end user activities.

The bots are small executable files that are very easy to spread. They can be spread through spam, music files located on file sharing systems, various Microsoft vulnerabilities that are not patched and host on a web site that pushes it to visitors in a technique call “drive-by download” (Very nasty and stealthy).

The thing that makes these bots so dangerous is their exponential growth factor. As more systems are infected, they also begin to scan to look for vulnerable system. Since additional computer systems use their recourses to recruit other systems, the growth can be enormous in a short period of time.

My recommendations are:
* Use a Mac OS X based system or even a Linux-based system if possible, if not

1. Make sure you have security controls in place (eg. Firewall, Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware and IDS)
2. Make user they are licensed and updated regularly
3. Make sure you run them frequently or have them run at a time your computer will be on
4. Do not download free miscellaneous software from the Internet (eg. Screensavers and games)
5. Do not open attachments if you do not know from whom it is from or what the attachment is.
6. Be smart

For more information on botnets, their effects and detailed recommendation to prevent and remove malware, check out http://www.securityorb.com/

Storm worm exploits U.S., Iran tensions

McAfee warns users to be wary of e-mails with the headers 'The beginning of World War III' and 'USA declares war on Iran'

By Oliver Garnham, IDG News Service
July 10, 2008

The authors of Nuwar -- also known as the Storm worm -- are exploiting the escalating political tensions between the U.S. and Iran to encourage users to download the malware, according to McAfee Avert Labs.

The security firm has warned people to be wary of e-mails with the headers "The beginning of World War III" and "USA declares war on Iran." The e-mails promise to link to a video showing the beginning of World War III, but clicking on the link actually triggers an automatic download of the file iran_occupation.exe, McAfee said.

The Storm worm was first detected in January 2007, but has reappeared in various guises several times over the past 18 months.

The malware has been used in a confirmation spam scam and has been employed in blogs and Web message forums. It also hit the headlines in April when malware makers gave it an April Fool's Day theme.

Why Bots are Bad News to your Network…

Any security vulnerability is potentially damaging to a business, and bots are no different. When malware programs are running on employee machines, companies have the right to worry about the safety and integrity of their data and their systems, and whether compromised information and performance could affect not just their competitiveness but their viability.

Adhering to company policies such as remote access, software downloads and patch management are all key to protecting the enterprise.