Get to Know the Botnets

By Stephanie Jordan
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As regular Messaging News readers know, Botnets are a true menace. This week Symantec’s latest MessageLabs Intelligence Report noted that botnets are responsible for approximately 88 percent of all spam and spew approximately 151 billion unsolicited messages a day.

Progress against botnets has been made. Closures of ISPs McColo, PriceWert and Real Host have had an impact against two of the biggest botnets of 2009: Cutwail and Srizbi. The report says that Cutwail and Srizbi, at their peak were each responsible for 45.6 percent and 50 percent of all global spam, respectively. Today, Cutwail is the third most powerful botnet and Srizbi has disappeared.

Unfortunately, botnet creators have not remained idle. The company offered a look at the newest botnets:

Bobax – has overtaken Cutwail as a top botnet, and is responsible for 15.7 percent of spam. Previously one of the smaller, less active botnets, Bobax has now quadrupled in size and its output per bot, per minute is now the highest MessageLabs has ever seen.

Grum – is the most active botnet responsible for over 23 percent of global spam. Since June, Grum has increased its output per bot massively, pushing it to the top of current “worst offenders”.

Maazben – meet the newest botnet, and the one to watch in the future. Currently focused on sending out casino-spam, Maazben first appeared in May and has been growing the number of bots rapidly in recent weeks while keeping its output low.

Mega D – has been losing bots quite rapidly. It is now only one-tenth the size it was in June. However, it’s now working its bots harder than ever, second only to the output of Bobax in spam per bot per minute.

Rustock – is the largest botnet of all, with an estimated 1.3 to 1.9 million compromised computers in its control. Rustock has roughly doubled in size since June, but doesn’t have a high output. What sets this botnet apart from the rest is its highly automated cycle of spamming activity: spam from this botnet accelerates from 3am EST, peaks around 7am EST and dies down by 7pm EST.

For more read the full report.

 

Published September 30, 2009