Microsoft, law enforcement disrupt sprawling Dorkbot botnet
Microsoft, law enforcement disrupt sprawling Dorkbot botnet
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Thursday Microsoft claimed a cryptic victory over Win32/Dorkbot botnet malware, but didn't divulge much about how, simply saying it has assisted law enforcement to "disrupt" Dorkbot botnets. On December 3, US CERT released a Technical Alert about denting Dorkbot, as a collaboration between The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Microsoft.
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This Dorkbot isn't to be confused with same-named tech-focused global organization of artists, hackers, engineers, designers, scientists, and inventors that self-organize to present informal lectures and presentations. That's the goodDorkbot.
The evil Dorkbot infects over 100,000 each month, and has owned more than one million PCs in over 190 countries; it participates in DDoS attacks, and delivering other types of malware. The primary sites Microsoft lists it has seen Dorkbot target stealing user logins and passwords for are AOL, eBay, Facebook, Gmail, Godaddy, OfficeBanking, Mediafire, Netflix, PayPal, Steam, Twitter, Yahoo, and YouTube. LogMeIn, Brazzers, and YouPorn are also on its target list.
Dorkbot can also be commanded by whoever is running it to steal Internet Explorer and Firefox cached login details -- so be glad if you never let your browser "remember" usernames and passwords.