botnet news stories on Newser

Trojan Virus Has Infected 600K Macs, Firm Claims

Kevin Spak — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 16:59:15 CDT

Are you a smug Mac user who assumes you can't possibly get a virus? Well, think again. A Russian anti-virus firm believes that about 600,000 Macs around the world have been infected with the Flashback Trojan virus—and about half of those are expected to be in the US....

Spam Levels Plummet Worldwide

Rob Quinn — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 11:46:31 CST

Along with assorted wildlife, there appears to have been a mass die-off of something else: spam emails. Spam levels, which had been dropping steadily since August, plummeted rapidly in late December, reports the BBC . Some 200 billion spam messages were being sent every day in August, but just 50 billion...

FBI: Botnet Mastermind Nabbed

Rob Quinn — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 04:45:00 CDT

A hacker responsible for hijacking more than 10 million computers around the world has been arrested in Slovenia after a major international investigation, the FBI says. The 23-year-old hacker, known as "Iserdo," is accused of masterminding a scam in which the Mariposa "botnet" network infected computers belonging to dozens of...

Conficker Worm's Still Out There ... Doing Nothing

Harry Kimball — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:56:02 CDT

An April Fools information apocalypse did not occur, but the widespread Conficker virus that caused so much fear of is still out there, CNN reports. Experts are puzzled over the lack of an attack, but the sheer size of the Conficker infection—5 million computers—yields a clue. “The more...

Experts: Apple's First Worm Nothing to Fret About

Rob Quinn — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 07:06:02 CDT

Malware that hijacks Macs has shown up for the first time, but it shouldn't be cause for panic, an expert tells the Globe & Mail . The malware, nicknamed iBotNet, only affects a few thousand users who downloaded a pirated copy of iWork and it's not spreading from computer to computer,...

Conficker Worm Date Passes Quietly—So Far

Rob Quinn — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 01:57:49 CDT

The Conficker worm came to life on its April 1 trigger date but failed to cause any major incidents—so far, Infoworld reports. Fears that the internet itself might be affected have yet to materialize, though experts warn that the malware—estimated to be lying in wait in 10 million...

Worm Set to Unleash Massive April Fool's Prank

Nick McMaster — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:53:38 CDT

Malware experts are racing to find the authors of the Conficker C worm and limit the damage it seems poised to do beginning April Fool’s Day, CNN reports. Conficker C, the bug’s third iteration since late 2008, has infected between 5 and 10 million computers but so far has not...

Computer Experts: The Bad Guys Are Winning

Rob Quinn — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 11:57:44 CST

There's a war on for your computer and the bad guys are winning, the New York Times reports. Malware that stealthily hijacks a computer to send more malware is spreading like wildfire, and efforts to battle the constantly evolving threat often amount to little more than a game of online...

Spammers Bounce Back After Host Shutdown

Rob Quinn — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:57:44 CST

Spammers are surging back onto the Internet again, 2 weeks after being dealt a body blow by a server shutdown, CNET News reports. Spam volumes dived 80% after the California-based McColo hosting firm was pulled offline. They remained flat until a few days ago but have now risen to around...