Upcoming Botnet Trends
by Blight Crusader
As 2009 draws to a close, network security specialists are taking a look at what can be expected in the never-ending battle against botnets. On the rise next year, PC World predicts, will be attacks on file-sharing networks and partner programs. That last one is insidious, because the scam artists are finding new ways to almost legitimize the profits they are making online, by entering into some very grey areas which may not actually run afoul of the law.
Of course, all good IT girls and boys should have already asked Santa to leave some robust bot detection software under the tree, but it’s good to stay on top of these things to know what to expect next.
Here’s the full PC World article, a good general overview of what’s out there for 2010:
This year is on its way out and seemingly cybercriminals are also planning their year ahead. Secure content management solutions developer Kaspersky Lab has outlined the threats it expects to see in 2010 as a result of cybercriminal activity.
Kaspersky Lab was expecting a rise in the number of global epidemics in 2009 but this year was marked by sophisticated malicious programs with rootkit functionality. Corporates and individuals struggled with the Kido worm (Conficker), Web attacks and botnets. An increase in the cases of SMS fraud and attacks on social networks was also experienced.
Shift in Cyber Strategy
Cybercriminals have changed their strategy and in 2010 they will no longer attack via websites and applications. They are now more focused on attacking computers through file-sharing networks.
This concept is not entirely new according to Kaspersky Lab, which points out that this year saw a series of mass malware epidemics supported by malicious files that were spread via torrent portals. This ‘approach’ helped cyber criminals spread threats such as TDSS and Virut. There will be a significant increase in these types of incidents on peer-to-peer (P2P) networks next year.
Being a criminal doesn’t mean there will be no competition similar to the real business world. Kaspersky Lab says next year, cybercriminals will continue competing for traffic and they are trying to make their businesses legal. Apparently, they want to legalize the way they earn money online using the huge amount of traffic that can be generated by botnets.
Profits from Spam
Partner programs will be popular in the future as botnet owners will try to make profits from activities such as sending spam, performing denial-of-service (DoS) attacks or distributing malware without committing an explicit crime.
Google Wave has reasons to be worried next year as it will be a target for cyberattacks. Both iPhone and Android should be careful because the first malicious programs for these mobile platforms already appeared in 2009.
Kaspersky Lab notes that the major cause of epidemics will be the detection of new vulnerabilities in both software developed by third parties and in Windows 7, the newly launched operating system. Next year will be one of the quietest years for some time if no serious vulnerabilities are detected.
