Kraken Botnet’s Comeback
By Gina on June 29, 2010 | Computer Security, Mariposa botnet, Butterfly framework, security researcher, botnet, Kraken
The return of Kraken botnet amused security researchers who thought that they already dismantled it last year. It seems like, notorious Kraken botnet has its heir and it also makes a huge damage to machines. This son-of-Kraken botnet has infected about 318,058 machines since April.
This new botnet is also able to generate spam and according to statistics that researchers of Georgia Tech Information Security Center have made, it may send more than 600,000 junk mails per hour.
An interesting thing is that the new zombie network is being spread via separate botnet that uses the Butterfly framework which was also used to create a Mariposa botnet . That is a serious puzzle for researchers.
„We don't know the relationship between the Kraken operators and the installation service operators,” said Paul Royal, a research scientist at the Georgia Tech Information Security Center. “If they're not the same group then that's really interesting because it suggests that even professional criminal gangs are willing to use these kits, provided that they do their jobs.”
The latest Kraken‘s heir uses domain names offered by dynamic DNS services to corral its bots into command and control channels. Because the addresses are additions of legitimate domain names, it anticipates them from being close down by registrars.
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