America's 10 Most-Wanted Botnets 84
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timothy
from the lurking-on-your-parents'-desktops dept.
from the lurking-on-your-parents'-desktops dept.
bednarz writes "Network World ranks America's 10 most wanted botnets, based on an estimate by security firm Damballa of botnet size and activity in the United States. The leader is Zeus, with 3.6 million compromised PCs so far. The Zeus Trojan uses key-logging techniques to steal user names, passwords, account numbers and credit card numbers, and it injects fake HTML forms into online banking login pages to steal user data. At the bottom of the list is Conficker, which despite its celebrity status has compromised just 210,000 US computers so far."
Top ten lists... (Score:5, Informative)
Please... If you are interested in top 10 lists, put the information from least significant to most. This makes the piece more interesting.
Thanks.
No. 10: Conficker
Compromised U.S. computers: 210,000
Main crime use: Also called Downadup, this downloader worm has spread significantly throughout the world, though not so much in the U.S. It's a complex downloader used to propagate other malware. Though it has been used to sell fake antivirus software, this crimeware currently seems to have no real purpose other than to spread. Industry watchers fear a more dangerous purpose will emerge.
No. 9: Gammima
Compromised U.S. computers: 230,000
Main crime use: Also know as Gamina, Gamania, Frethog, Vaklik and Krap, this crimeware focuses on stealing online game logins, passwords and account information. It uses rootkit techniques to load into the address space of other common processes, such as Explorer.exe, and will spread through removable media such as USB keys. It's also known to be the worm that got into the International Space Station in the summer of 2008.
No. 8: Swizzor
Compromised U.S. computers: 370,000
Main crime use: A variant of the Lop malware, this Trojan dropper can download and launch files from the Internet on the victim's machine without the user's knowledge, installing an adware program and other Trojans.
No. 7: Hamweq
Compromised U.S. computers: 480,000
Main crime use: Also known as IRCBrute, or an autorun worm, this backdoor worm makes copies of itself on the system and any removable drive it finds -- and anytime the removable drives are accessed, it executes automatically. An effective spreading mechanism, Hamweq creates registry entries to enable its automatic execution at every startup and injects itself into Explorer.exe. The botmaster using it can execute commands on and receive information from the compromised system.
No. 6: Monkif
Compromised U.S. computers: 520,000
Main crime use: This crimeware's current focus is downloading an adware BHO (browser helper object) onto a compromised system.
No. 5: TR/Dldr.Agent.JKH
Compromised U.S. computers: 1.2 million
Main crime use: This remote Trojan posts encrypted data back to its command-and-control domains and periodically receives instruction. Often loaded by other malware, TR/Dldr.Agent.JKH currently is used as a clickbot, generating ad revenue for the botmaster through constant ad-specific activity
No. 4: Trojan.Fakeavalert
Compromised U.S. computers: 1.4 million
Main crime use: Formerly used for spamming, this botnet has shifted to downloading other malware, with its main focus on fake alerts and rogue antivirus software.
No. 3: TidServ
Compromised U.S. computers: 1.5 million
Main crime use: This downloader Trojan spreads through spam e-mail, arriving as an attachment. It uses rootkit techniques to run inside common Windows services (sometimes bundled with fake antivirus software) or in Windows safe mode, and it can hide most of its files and registry entries.
No. 2: Koobface
Compromised U.S. computers: 2.9 million
Main crime use: This malware spreads via social networking sites MySpace and Facebook with faked messages or comments from "friends." When a user is enticed into clicking on a provided link to view a video, the user is prompted to obtain a necessary update, like a codec -- but it's really malware that can take control over the computer.
No. 1: Zeus
Compromised U.S. computers: 3.6 million
Main crime use: The Zeus Trojan uses key-logging techniques to steal sensitive data such as user names, passwords, account numbers and credit card numbers. It injects fake HTML forms into online banking login pages to steal user data.
Re:!Botnet (Score:5, Informative)
It is a botnet that happens to include key logging and other phishing features. It even features an EULA:
http://jabolins.livejournal.com/16538.html [livejournal.com]
Re:!Botnet (Score:5, Informative)
Re:!Botnet (Score:3, Informative)
It highlights a confusion in the way the terms are used: I guess it might make more sense to say that a botnet is comprised of systems running botnet software, rather than systems running a botnet. Apparently in the case of Zeus, people are purchasing the software as a kit and then deploying it in order to create their own botnets, so the Zeus botnet software is the platform for more than 1 botnet.
Re:I don't get it... (Score:4, Informative)
Simple: There's always a window between a virus appearing in large numbers and an antivirus updating itself. Get a copy of Virtual PC and try it yourself - get a few viruses from your daily spam. I do it every once in a while and it can take two or three days for my antivirus to kick in. Today's Viruses can disable all the major antivirus programs and prevent you from rebooting in failsafe mode to delete them so once they're in, they're in. There's no way for the antivirus to get rid of them.
Re:I don't get it... (Score:3, Informative)
I thoroughly recommend the Trinity Rescue Kit [trinityhome.org] precisely for this purpose and for repairing and/or cloning NTFS partitions from a bootable Linux CD.
And, no, I'm nothing to do with any of the team who develop it, I came across it pretty much by accident and have used it ever since.