Fighting malware and spam

Botnet DoS no longer profitable

Extortion attacks fall as herders find easier money elsewhere.

The use of armies of botnets to carry out denial-of-service attacks on lucrative websites, as a method of extorting money from owners unwilling to be knocked offline and lose valuable profits, has declined considerably over the last year, according to Symantec.

The tactic, which was often aimed at gambling sites due to their high potential profits and sensitive time windows in the run-up to major sporting events, boomed three of four years ago and generally involved small 'demonstration' attacks prior to demands for cash, accompanied by the threat of more significant disruption.

While such attacks are still regularly used for political ends, financially motivated DDoS has declined significantly, falling away sharply in the second half of last year, and a Symantec blogger speculates that the complexity and risk of the extortion method, alongside the increasing profitability of spamming, has led to a general redeployment of botnets to easier and more lucrative scams.

Read more in the blog entry here.

02 May 2007

Tags: botnet, ddos, research.