“Cheap Spam Network.”
“Kill Competitors With Our Denial of Service Swarm.”
“Rent DDos Attacks By The Minute, By The Hour, By The Day.”

Need an inexpensive way to do bad things on a large scale? Why build when you can rent?

Germany’s c’t magazine bought time on a bunch of infected computers. Distributed a worm. Then introduced the worm seller to authorities. Scotland Yard told c’t: “The scene is becoming more professional and has recognised how much money can easily be gained illicitly this way.”

blocks of half a million or so.

Competition for zombies is brutal. Bagle, MyDoom, Sobig, and others battle night and day to build ever larger networks… better protected networks… faster networks. Their preferred source: home users using DSL and cable modems.

Home users go for high speed and always-on convenience. They often eschew inconveniences like firewalls and antivirus solutions. That’s why virus-spewers love ‘em. And why a few admins blacklist every IP address from a “home”-broadband block… A very bad move, since lots of businesses use DSL and cable modems today.

So what can you do after you’ve properly installed effective spam, virus and content filtering equipment?

Control your users… gently.

  • Firewall off unneeded services like SMTP. While endusers without mail servers don’t need SMTP, viruses often do.
  • Educate users. Explain the need for protection… privacy as well as bandwidth… then provide antivirus software or links to help clean up.
  • Cut them off. While few admins can afford to lose enduser goodwill, losing your whole network is infinitely worse. fyi: Broadband Reports hosts a great debate.

You’re paying for the time. Only question is, who’s going to share it?