Botnets 7 x increase in 1 year
Botnets used in banking credential theft and other criminal enterprises made huge gains in 2010, claiming more than seven times as many victims as the previous year, according to a report issued by a security firm that follows the large networks of infected machines.
The dramatic increase was fueled by improvements in DIY botnet construction kits, which allowed internet-based fraudsters to construct new networks that quickly gained traction, the report from Damballa said. As a result, six of the 10 biggest botnets of 2010 weren’t in existence the previous year. New infection technology that targets a hard drive’s targets a hard drive’s master boot record and changes the machine’s boot options also played role. (more…)