Microsoft releases botnet hunting tool to law enforcement.
From Network World:
Botnet fighters have another tool in their arsenal, thanks to Microsoft.
The software vendor is giving law enforcers access to a special tool that keeps tabs on botnets, using data compiled from the 450 million computer users who have installed the Malicious Software Removal tool that ships with Windows.
Although Microsoft is reluctant to give out details on its botnet buster — the company said that even revealing its name could give cyber criminals a clue on how to thwart it — company executives discussed it at a closed door conference held for law enforcement professionals Monday. The tool includes data and software that helps law enforcers get a better picture of the data being provided by Microsoft’s users, said Tim Cranton, associate general counsel with Microsoft’s World Wide Internet Safety Programs. “I think of it … as botnet intelligence,” he said.
Read on for the full article.
As part of Operation Bot Roast a hacker named, Robert Matthew Bentley, 21, of Panama City, Florida has plead guilty to a pair of felony counts. Bently, who at times used the moniker LSDigital, was responsible in part for a massive botnet that spanned the globe.
From the Register UK:
An indictment alleged that Bentley and his cronies generated “thousands of dollars” from their botnets. According to court papers signed last week by Bentley, he had applied for an account with DollarRevenue.com, which “pays others for, among other things, the unauthorized intrusion and placement of adware on to vulnerable computers.”
The bot masters, at least one of whom was located in Philadelphia, used the domain name smokedro.com as a command and control channel. They breached Newell Rubbermaid using at least three malicious files bearing the names 84785_redworld[1].exe, mssecure.exe and msiupdate.exe.
Under terms agreed to in the plea agreement, Bentley may qualify for “the granting of relief” if he provides “substantial assistance in the investigation or prosecution of other persons who have committed offenses.”
Ah, the carrot. So will he turn on his fellow ne’er do wells?
