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The Storm Botnet
27 July 2010
The Storm Botnet, also known as the Storm worm botnet, is perhaps the biggest botnet in the world. The Storm Botnet uses a network of zombie computers that are controlled by unknown individuals for a number of different purposes. The Storm Botnet uses a Trojan Horse called the Storm worm to infect computers, further adding to the number of computers connected in the botnet. There have been many estimates regarding the total number of computers in the Storm Botnet. Some people have put the number somewhere between 1 to 50 million computers. However, more conservative estimates put the number to be between 250,000 to 1 million infected machines. The Storm Botnet was first seen during the month of January in the year 2007. Since the Storm Botnet was first identified, some have speculated that Storm worms account for over 8% of the total number of malwares that infect computers that use the Windows operating system.
The Storm Botnet has already been used for many illegal activities. Authorities around the world have been trying to track down the people who operate the Storm Botnet, but no one has been arrested as of this writing. The Storm Botnet has also been observed to exhibit defence mechanisms when attacked by security companies trying to shut it down. It is not known if these defence mechanisms are automated or if someone is controlling them remotely. The botnet has repeatedly attacked many of the security companies that have tried to analyze the Storm Botnet. Before the end of the year 2007, Joe Stewart, a well-known security expert, has announced that the people controlling the Storm Botnet have begun attempts to decentralize the operation of the botnet. Experts view this occurrence as an indication that the botnet operators might be trying to sell chunks of the botnet to other operators. There have been many experts that believe that the botnet is starting to decline, but security experts all agree that the Storm Botnet is still one of the biggest security risks today. The Storm Botnet can be used for a number of illegal activities like identity theft, bank fraud and other similar cybercrimes.
Many of the world’s foremost experts have estimated that the Storm Botnet is more powerful than the best supercomputers in the world. It is said that the Storm Botnet is capable of handling higher instructions per second than any single computer in the world. Many also believe that the Storm Botnet is strong enough to temporarily disable the Internet connections of an entire country. While many people compare the Storm Botnet to supercomputers, security expert James Turner has voiced the opinion that this analogy is not very accurate. According to Turner, comparing a supercomputer to the Storm Botnet is like comparing a nuclear bomb to an army of snipers. Experts are more concerned regarding the bandwidth that is available to Storm Botnet operators.
The Storm Botnet was first identified in the year 2007 when thousands of emails with titles like “Chinese Missile Shot down USA Aircraft” or “230 Dead as Storm Batters Europe” were received by thousands of people from around the world. These emails contained the first instances of the Storm worm used to construct the Storm Botnet. The people who perpetrated the spam campaign used social engineering tactics to trick people into infecting their own systems by downloading compromised files. Many security experts have speculated that the operators of the Storm Botnet are based in Russia. However, none of these assertions have been proven as of yet. The Storm Botnet is made up of millions of computers that use Microsoft Windows. Because Windows is used by a large majority of the world’s computer market, the dangers posed by the Storm Botnet constitute a serious security risk for any computer user.
The Storm Botnet has already been used for many illegal activities. Authorities around the world have been trying to track down the people who operate the Storm Botnet, but no one has been arrested as of this writing. The Storm Botnet has also been observed to exhibit defence mechanisms when attacked by security companies trying to shut it down. It is not known if these defence mechanisms are automated or if someone is controlling them remotely. The botnet has repeatedly attacked many of the security companies that have tried to analyze the Storm Botnet. Before the end of the year 2007, Joe Stewart, a well-known security expert, has announced that the people controlling the Storm Botnet have begun attempts to decentralize the operation of the botnet. Experts view this occurrence as an indication that the botnet operators might be trying to sell chunks of the botnet to other operators. There have been many experts that believe that the botnet is starting to decline, but security experts all agree that the Storm Botnet is still one of the biggest security risks today. The Storm Botnet can be used for a number of illegal activities like identity theft, bank fraud and other similar cybercrimes.
Many of the world’s foremost experts have estimated that the Storm Botnet is more powerful than the best supercomputers in the world. It is said that the Storm Botnet is capable of handling higher instructions per second than any single computer in the world. Many also believe that the Storm Botnet is strong enough to temporarily disable the Internet connections of an entire country. While many people compare the Storm Botnet to supercomputers, security expert James Turner has voiced the opinion that this analogy is not very accurate. According to Turner, comparing a supercomputer to the Storm Botnet is like comparing a nuclear bomb to an army of snipers. Experts are more concerned regarding the bandwidth that is available to Storm Botnet operators.
The Storm Botnet was first identified in the year 2007 when thousands of emails with titles like “Chinese Missile Shot down USA Aircraft” or “230 Dead as Storm Batters Europe” were received by thousands of people from around the world. These emails contained the first instances of the Storm worm used to construct the Storm Botnet. The people who perpetrated the spam campaign used social engineering tactics to trick people into infecting their own systems by downloading compromised files. Many security experts have speculated that the operators of the Storm Botnet are based in Russia. However, none of these assertions have been proven as of yet. The Storm Botnet is made up of millions of computers that use Microsoft Windows. Because Windows is used by a large majority of the world’s computer market, the dangers posed by the Storm Botnet constitute a serious security risk for any computer user.
