[ISN] Researchers question Microsoft's botnet take-down

From: InfoSec News <alerts_at_private>
Date: Fri, 26 Feb 2010 01:49:04 -0600 (CST)
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9162498/Researchers_question_Microsoft_s_botnet_take_down?taxonomyId=17

By Gregg Keizer
Computerworld
February 25, 2010 

A prominent security researcher today said he doubts Microsoft's 
take-down of the Waledac botnet would have any impact on spam levels, as 
the company claimed.

"Waledac just is not a hugely prolific spammer," said Joe Stewart, 
director of malware analysis at SecureWorks and a noted botnet 
researcher. "So I don't think it's going to affect spam [volume]. What 
it does do lately..., what it's used for, is to install rogue antivirus 
software."

The U.K.-based anti-spam service Spamhaus echoed Stewart today. "If 
[Microsoft's take-down] did affect spam, we haven't noticed," said 
Richard Cox, the chief information officer at Spamhaus. Like Stewart, 
Cox also dismissed Waledac's threat as a spam engine.

"Waledac was not a high threat, it's less than 1% of the spam traffic," 
Cox said. "What we're worried about is Zeus, which is a far more 
damaging botnet, which is creating a substantial amount of spam."

[...]


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Received on Thu Feb 25 2010 - 23:49:04 PST

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