Three cheers for Operation Bot Roast
You don’t see universal agreement among security vendors all that often, but yesterday’s announcement from the FBI seems to have caused something close to that.
The FBI has taken down three major bot herders, announced one million PCs are affected by bots and launched Operation Bot Roast, which has been received with encouragement and applause with vendors. (I’ve always secretly wondered who gets paid to come up with operation names for the DOJ and the Pentagon).
Although the federal government is often criticized (and rightfully so) for failing to keep up with security best practices, yesterday’s news is encouraging because it shows the Justice Department is up on cybercrime trends and is making an effort to squelch the problems.
McAfee warned of related phishing attempts:
“The agency has recently launched “Operation Bot Roast” to coordinate and bring more visibility to their efforts to dismantle bots. As part of the effort, they’re trying to get people who have been infected with bots to file a complaint through their website. If you know that you’ve been infected, please go and file a complaint report. Every report helps identify these criminals and bolster the case against them.
(An anti-phishing reminder: The FBI will not contact you online and request your personal information – you must go to them to make the report).
So, if you’ve been infected, you can do your part to make the net a safer place.”
- Allysa Myers, McAfee Avert Labs Blog, “Are you one of the millions who’s been infected by a bot?”
Elda at F-Secure noted that victims have been asked to contact ISPs, not the FBI:
“In line with this operation, the FBI advises computer users not to directly contact the Bureau if they suspect that they have a computer infection. Instead they ask users to contact their internet service providers first…Because of this news, we are now anticipating that internet service providers will receive a lot of calls.”
- Elda, F-Secure Weblog, “Operation Bot Roast”
Jaime Chanaga encouraged basic security steps:
“This news story is one more example that information security is everyone’s responsibility.
Take these basic steps to secure your home computer today:
1. Scan your software with update anti-virus/anti-spyware software.
2. Install software vendor patches such as Windows Update.
3. Ensure your computer has a software or hardware firewall protecting it.
In protecting your home computer, you will be also reducing the possibility that hackers will steal your identity and personal information from files stored on your home computer. These three basic steps won’t guarantee 100-percent protection, but will significantly reduce the possibility that your home computer will be compromised by botnets and other malicious attacks.”
- Jaime Chanaga, The CSO Board Blog, “1 million computers affected by botnet, FBI announces”
