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So what’s coming next, after Storm you might ask. You might remember Storm Worm Descending on Blogspot<\/a> recently and other news about Botnets<\/a> spiraling out of control accounting for almost 25% of online computers.<\/p>\n Well apparently next will be p2p or peer to peer Botnets which could literally blow Storm away.<\/p>\n You know about the Storm Trojan, which is spread by the world’s largest botnet. But what you may not know is there’s now a new peer-to-peer based botnet emerging that could blow Storm away.<\/p>\n “We’re investigating a new peer-to-peer botnet that may wind up rivaling Storm in size and sophistication,” says Tripp Cox, vice president of engineering for startup Damballa, which tracks botnet command and control infrastructures. “We can’t say much more about it, but we can tell it’s distinct from Storm.”<\/p>\n It’s hard to imagine anything bigger and more complex than Storm, which despite its nefarious intent as a DDOS and spam tool has awed security researchers with its slick design and its ability to reinvent itself when it’s at risk of detection or getting busted. Storm changed the botnet game, security experts say, and its successors may be even more powerful and wily.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Interesting developments, I’ll certainly be watching out for this and see what happens. This next generation could open up some DDoS attacks of never seen before proportions (I’m talking the ability to take whole countries offline).<\/p>\n Information warfare? Cyber Terrorism? Yes it’s getting very real.<\/p>\n Botnets are no longer just annoying, spam-pumping factories — they’re big business for criminals. This shift has even awakened enterprises, which historically have either looked the other way or been in denial about bots infiltrating their organizations.<\/p>\n “A year ago, the traditional method for bot infections was through malware. But now you’re getting compromised servers, with drive-by downloads so prevalent that people are getting infected without realizing it,” says Paul Ferguson, network architect for Trend Micro. “No one is immune.” <\/p><\/blockquote>\n So watch out, and do educate people wherever you can about the dangers of Malware and safe surfing. A little Firefox<\/a> here, a little NoScript<\/a> there, a copy of Avast<\/a> and a few instructions solve most problems.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n