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Spam Could Be Replacing DoS Threats
David Utter
Staff Writer
2007-05-02
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Committing a bot network to a denial of service attack against a website for extortion purposes may be a fading tactic.
 | | Spam Could Be Replacing DoS Threats |  |
If it is more profitable to use a bot network to dump thousands of spam messages on inboxes, it seems more likely criminals will go that route.
Symantec researcher Yazan Gable blogged that the DoS extortion threats of past years are no longer as profitable for criminals. The company has seen a sharp decline in these attacks over the past six months.
A couple of factors stack against extortionists who try the DoS ploy against a target. They run the risk of having their victim refuse to pay. If that happens, the bot owner risks his resources for no payoff and a greater risk of discovery.
"Since the target has refused to pay, it is likely that they will never pay," Gable said.
An investigation could turn up the command and control servers used to run the bot attack. Shutting those down wipes out the bot network, since there won't be anything giving commands to the bots on infected computers.
Just as Gable noted the decrease in DoS blackmail, Symantec also saw a rise in spam for the same six month period. Online criminals are motivated by profit, and it looks as if there is more to be made from spam than from going after one target at a time.
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Tags: DoS Attacks, Bots, Spam, Computer Security
About the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews and WebProNews.
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