Paper on Botnets – The Silent Threat on the Internet

ENISA is launching its latest Position Paper: on 'botnets', i.e. silent, 'hijacked' computers. The paper identifies roles and structures of criminal organizations for creating and controlling botnets, and trends in this type of cyber crime. In particular, it is often overlooked that browser exploits account already for more than 60% of all infections. Clicking on a malicious link may be enough to get infected. The main problem is uninformed users. Consequently, ENISA calls for an agreement to address this security threat in a more consistent way. The paper also identifies online tools to identify and counter malicious code.

ENISA calling for concerted efforts to counter the botnet threat

Better solutions are needed to solve the botnet threat. Botnets usually involve computers from several countries, making tracking very difficult. ENISA therefore calls for a more coordinated, cross country cooperation among multi-national law enforcement agencies, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and software vendors. More structure and more resources are needed. Education of the everyday user in detecting malicious activity in their computers is a key measure.

Botnets - a big problem for society, business, and governments

Estimations show that there are at least 1.000 different Botnet C& C servers running constantly. An average C&C server controls 20.000 compromised computers (ranging from 10-300.000). Estimations indicate ca 53.000, new, active bots/day. A spam bot can send up to 3 spam emails/s (ca 259.000 emails/day).

Click to see activity map of Botnets, and map of Infection methods.

For further information or information pleaser refer to the full ENISA Position Paper: http://www.enisa.europa.eu/doc/pdf/deliverables/enisa_pp_botnets.pdf