"Father of the Internet" Vint Cerf says 1/4 of all computers are Botnet Zombies

[mandy]

The BBC's Tim Weber, who was in the audience of an Internet panel featuring Vint Cerf, Michael Dell, John Markoff of the New York Times, and Jon Zittrain of Oxford, came away most impressed by the botnet statistics. Cerf told his listeners that approximately 600 million computers are connected to the Internet, and that 150 million of them might be participants in a botnet—nearly all of them unwilling victims. Weber remarks that "in most cases the owners of these computers have not the slightest idea what their little beige friend in the study is up to."

If Cerf's estimate is accurate, that's one quarter of all machines connected to the Internet. So is the Internet doomed? Well, you're reading this, so no, not yet. But the botnet menace is no phantom, and it has been growing in strength for years...

full article: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070125-8707.html

[thentavius]

Can't anti-spyware programs and the like detect this sort of system hijack?

[BellisimaJ.]

Several months ago, Wired published a great story about the extended botnet attack on Blue Security that captures the shadowy nature of the botnet world. Even after weeks of attacks and public tauntings from the spammer behind them, neither the security firm nor its ISPs could fully halt the attacks or identify the person who was launching them. In the end, Blue Security folded.

Okay, this is scary. Wish I hadn't read it. 

Do virus programs detect this? How about anit-spyware programs? If not, how can you tell if you have been "taken over"?  If you have, what can you do about it?

Damn bloody criminals.

[FiberGuy]

I think Mr. Cerf is confused...

I think he meant to say that 1/4 of all internet users are zombies...

[jezebel]

#1 Do virus programs detect this? How about anit-spyware programs? #2 If not, how can you tell if you have been "taken over"? 

#1 Keeping your virus and spyware programs updated is the best prevention.  It doesn't completely eliminate the possibility of having your computer hijacked. Anti-virus and anti-spyware programs can also be compromised or disabled by malware too.

#2 You don't know :blinkie:

http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...571.0.html

[thentavius]

[regic]

Botnets are a prime reason why you should always immediately apply security patches for any scripts you use on your website.

Here's one website owner who didn't:

Web Site Owners Discover Terrorists Secretly Hacked their Crafts Web Site
http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...686.0.html

[BellisimaJ.]

[quote author=jezebel link=topic=6842.msg41372#msg41372 date=1169864726]

#1 Do virus programs detect this? How about anit-spyware programs? #2 If not, how can you tell if you have been "taken over"? 

#1 Keeping your virus and spyware programs updated is the best prevention.  It doesn't completely eliminate the possibility of having your computer hijacked. Anti-virus and anti-spyware programs can also be compromised or disabled by malware too.

#2 You don't know :blinkie:

http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...571.0.html


[/quote]

TY for the explanation, Jez.

You and Reg convinced me to spend $150 upgrading my pc security today. At least I know that I have done what I can do to prevent it.