With help from industry partners, the US Department of Justice and the FBI have released a statement that they have identified over one million computers who have become part of a botnet. The FBI and the Justice Department aren't just interested in finding and informing victims, however: they are actively working to locate and dismantle the operators of the botnets, known as "botherders." To date, the task force has nabbed James C. Brewer of Arlington Texas, Jason Michael Downey of Covington, Kentucky, and Robert Alan Soloway of Seattle Washington, charging all three of them with using botnets to send spam and disrupt other computers with DDos attacks.
In January, TCP/IP pioneer Vint Cerf estimated that one-quarter of all computers could be part of a botnet. This number is much higher than the FBI's one million out of an estimated 600 million computers connected to the Internet. Most of these computers are running older versions of Windows (older than XP SP2) but there are also botnetted machines running Linux and OS X, primarily servers running third-party server software such as PHP that has not been fully patched for security vulnerabilities. As new versions of Windows harden themselves against OS-level attacks, expect to see more attacks on third-party software, particularly as users are fairly lax at keeping it patched.
News source: Ars Technica
In January, TCP/IP pioneer Vint Cerf estimated that one-quarter of all computers could be part of a botnet. This number is much higher than the FBI's one million out of an estimated 600 million computers connected to the Internet. Most of these computers are running older versions of Windows (older than XP SP2) but there are also botnetted machines running Linux and OS X, primarily servers running third-party server software such as PHP that has not been fully patched for security vulnerabilities. As new versions of Windows harden themselves against OS-level attacks, expect to see more attacks on third-party software, particularly as users are fairly lax at keeping it patched.
News source: Ars Technica
I work for a small PC repair firm, and its amazing the number of computers that come in from families with XP "Gold" (no SP), no or outdated A/V protection and several, well, illegal programs etc. Its usually easier to reformat given the condition of them, so this really doesnt surprise me.
but the general gist is:
- power on machine, connect to a special firewall computer which allows it to connect to the internet, prevents it from accessing the network machines, and analyses traffic throughput. We then check network for unexpected traffic (tells us whether anything is reporting home etc)
- install our own homebrew tool which checks for suspicious activity in running apps
- safe mode, run the usual checks, check log files of Syssweep (our tool)
Usually, things such as rootkits make this alot harder, and makes it impossible for 99.9% of home users to do, hence why most of them take the attitude "oh, my pc has dodgy things running, as long as i dont input my credit card details, i'll be fine". Unfortunately, they dont realise the wide-scale damage their PC could be doing. Heck, we've even had some come in who do not know what a virus is (never had one thinking that their computer has caught a cold, though
They'll **** and moan if you remove something they like even though you know it's part of the problem. I try to offer safe alternatives.
he can't really, once your infected the only real way to know your safe is to reinstall windows, i don't care what anyone says, and i am sure there are a whole bunch of people who will claim i am wrong, but it's plain and simple you can never guarantee a machine is clean once it's been comprromised and anyone that does is simply bending the truth, or does not know what they are talking about.
Older windows version are also a hedache,and need to be dismantled as soon as possible
but i guess if all the people did was browse internet and did a little email here and there linux might be "ok".
but usually u got all these kids on multiple chat programs and all sorts of windows based programs, so windows is still a must even though windows pc's do get infected alot with all sorts of crap.
i think the best bet is to give them firefox to use instead of internet explorer as that will help cut back on infections as far as spyware etc etc is concerned.
and install some sort of anti-virus that aint going to expire anytime soon.... then just hope for the best lol.
And that is the root cause of all of this, regardless of platform (or Eduard's desire to sling mud on anything not Windows). Bad admins running without updating. Whether it is a server's Linux kernel, or PHP running on it, a a good admin has to keep in touch with what he has. Not just slap something together and let it run neglected forever.
A poor admin can take a good system and ruin it.
Not sure where ThaCrip's comments about "easiest to use" and "most functional" were supposed to be about.
If you've only ever used Mas OS, and have never touched a PC, it will have the same effect if they used Windows, as a long time Windows user trying Linux for the first time. Windows is the easiest to use and most function for the majority of people, simply because it's what theyre used to. Alot of people (like MarkJenson
As for there being less Viruses or Malware for OSX and Linux, of course there's less, because they have a smaller userbase (and anyone with malicious intent would go for as larger userbase as possible). They have fewer, but aren't immune. As with anything, if man can make something, man can break it.
Older windows version are also a hedache,and need to be dismantled as soon as possible
LOL.. many people think that SSH is 100% secure but there are another ways to break it (for example force brute, a break password).. and with a SSH session... linux is all but a slave of the hackers. Windows (in this aspect) is quite secure, since they don't allow telnet by default and the support is limited.
But there aren't.
If you've only ever used Mas OS, and have never touched a PC, it will have the same effect if they used Windows, as a long time Windows user trying Linux for the first time. Windows is the easiest to use and most function for the majority of people, simply because it's what theyre used to. Alot of people (like MarkJenson
As for there being less Viruses or Malware for OSX and Linux, of course there's less, because they have a smaller userbase (and anyone with malicious intent would go for as larger userbase as possible). They have fewer, but aren't immune. As with anything, if man can make something, man can break it.
i think you got a good point
but seriously though generally speaking if no one used a pc in there life i think it's pretty safe to say windows/mac would be easier to use then linux would, since linux is still to technical.... just installing apps right there makes it harder to use vs windows etc.
Older windows version are also a hedache,and need to be dismantled as soon as possible
LOL.. many people think that SSH is 100% secure but there are another ways to break it (for example force brute, a break password).. and with a SSH session... linux is all but a slave of the hackers. Windows (in this aspect) is quite secure, since they don't allow telnet by default and the support is limited.
if you can't detect someone trying to brute force ssh then you really need to update your firewall.
And that is the root cause of all of this, regardless of platform (or Eduard's desire to sling mud on anything not Windows). Bad admins running without updating. Whether it is a server's Linux kernel, or PHP running on it, a a good admin has to keep in touch with what he has. Not just slap something together and let it run neglected forever.
A poor admin can take a good system and ruin it.
Not sure where ThaCrip's comments about "easiest to use" and "most functional" were supposed to be about.
Totally agree a server is only as secure as it's admin is inteligent.
Security is a process, not a product.
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