![]() Tor bounces traffic across multiple random points on the Internet to obfuscate its true source.Īccording to Wisniewski, “This doesn’t make detection any more difficult, but it does make takedowns and arrests significantly harder. Short for “The Onion Router,” Tor (more info) is an open-source project intended to help users remain anonymous online. Wisniewski states that cyber criminals are combining the peer-to-peer botnet approach with Tor. To protect themselves further, attackers added an additional layer of complexity. When a botnet no longer has a single point of failure, taking it down requires eradicating the bot malware from all compromised systems - a daunting task, compared to simply shutting down a few C&C servers. Like the Borg in Star Trek, if one member is eliminated, its duties are simply taken up by the next “Borg” in line - and the threat continues. He added, “While more complicated to code, it makes dismantling botnets and identifying their operators significantly more difficult.”Īll PCs in a botnet are part of a peer-to-peer, command-and-control structure. “Over the past five years, more and more botnet operators mimicked Conficker they moved to a peer-to-peer command-and-control infrastructure,” explains Sophos senior security advisor Chester Wisniewski. Faced with a rising tide of C&C shutdowns, they simply came up with a more innovative approach. ![]() Distributing botnet command-and-controlĬyber criminals are nothing if not resourceful. Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice to hunt down and close major botnets - by going after malicious C&C servers. In recent years, Microsoft has worked closely with the U.S. If you can locate the malicious server and either block it or take it offline, you effectively render the botnet useless - even if every bot-infected system is still technically compromised.Įffectively, cutting off the head kills the snake.ĭue to their sheer numbers, it should be no surprise that Windows machines make up the bulk of botnet-compromised personal computers. That reliance on Web-based servers makes a botnet relatively easy to disable. It might also be instructed to download malicious code that a cyber criminal wants spread to other systems.Īfter that initial activity is completed, the bot typically lies dormant in the PC, quietly waiting for new commands from the C&C server. Usually, it’s directed to download additional malware components - code that will help the botnet remain hidden on the compromised system. In most cases, when a botnet executable compromises a PC, its first action is to connect with an Internet-based command-and-control (C&C) server and request instructions. (For Star Trek fans, the Borg will immediately come to mind.) Taking control starts with phoning home Once infected, those systems would join a botnet, quietly monitoring an IRC channel - and wait for instructions. They also discovered that their malicious bots could be easily scaled, quickly compromising and linking tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of PCs. If a bot can perform remote tasks for admins, it can also execute malicious code on behalf of an attacker. ![]() It didn’t take long for cyber criminals to see the potential power in bots. They typically monitor a designated Internet Relay Chat (IRC more info) channel for specified commands. For purposes of this discussion, bots are applications installed on personal computers. IT admins could use them to automate or remotely initiate specific tasks.īots can emulate human interactions on computers - though at much faster speeds than true human interactions. ![]() Search engines, for example, use bots as web crawlers - small apps that sweep up information about other websites. Bots: the building blocks of botnetsīots - shorthand for “robots” — are not inherently malicious and come in various forms, such as web crawlers, Internet bots, chat bots, IRC bots, and gaming bots. Since their inception, botnets have been one of the more difficult threats to neutralize, and new and innovative techniques are making this malware even more difficult to stop. Amassing the resources of possibly millions of compromised PCs, attackers use that combined power for all sorts of nefarious activities. TOP STORY Botnet innovation: Resistance is (nearly) futileīotnets are not a new threat, but they are a serious one.
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