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Operation: Bot Roast is an operation by the FBI to track down bot herders, crackers, or virus coders who install malicious software on computers through the Internet without the owners’ knowledge, which turns the computer into a zombie computer that then sends out spam to other computers from the compromised zombie computer, making a botnet or network of bot infected computers. The operation was launched because the vast size of the botnet poses a threat to national security.[1]
[edit] The results
The operation was created to disrupt and disassemble bot herders. In June 2007, the FBI had identified about 1 million computers that were compromised, leading to the arrest of the persons responsible for creating the malware. In the process, owners of infected computers were notified, many of whom were unaware of the exploitation.[1][2]
Some early results of the operation include charges against the following:
- Robert Alan Soloway of Seattle, Washington, pleaded guilty to charges of using botnets to send tens of millions of spam messages touting his website.[1]
- James C. Brewer of Arlington, Texas, is accused of infecting tens of thousands of computers worldwide, including some at Chicago-area hospitals.[1]
- Jeanson James Ancheta plead guilty to controlling thousands of infected computers.[3]
- Jason Michael Downey of Covington, Kentucky, is charged with using botnets to disable other systems.[1]
- Akbot author Owen Walker (pseudonym "AKILL") of New Zealand, was tried for various crimes and discharged by the prosecution in 2008.[4]
- Ryan Goldstein of Ambler, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting another person to gain unauthorized access to a protected computer with accomplice Owen Walker.[5]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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Botnets |
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