Kraken botnet

TheKraken botnetis a network hackingspywareprogram that attacksMicrosoft Windowsand AppleMacintoshsystems throughemailandWorld Wide Websites such associal networkingsites. It was the world's largestbotnetas of April 2008.

Researchers say that Kraken infected machines in at least 50 of theFortune 500companies and grew to over 400,000 bots.It was estimated to send 9 billion spam messages per day. Kraken botnet malware may have been designed to evade anti-virus software, and employed techniques to stymie conventional anti-virus software.

History

The Kraken botnet was first discovered in 2008 by security firm Damballa. Researchers described it as the largest botnet discovered at the time, compromising over 400,000 infected machines. This was more than twice the size of theStorm botnet,which was previously considered to be the largest zombie network.

Prevalence In a 24-hour period on March 25, 2008, Kraken was observed to have infected 409,912 unique IP addresses. Researchers predicted the botnet would grow to over 600,000 nodes within two weeks. The botnet infiltrated machines inside major corporations, including over 50Fortune 500 companies.

Action

Kraken is believed to spread primarily throughsocial engineering,by tricking users into clicking on malicious files disguised as images. Once executed, the Kraken malware copies itself to the victim's hard drive in a slightly altered format, allowing it to evade detection by antivirus software. Infected machines also regularly update themselves with new variants to avoid detection. Kraken's ability to rapidly morph its codebase has allowed it to evade detection by most antivirus products. At the time of discovery, only about 20 percent of antivirus products were detecting the malware. This code obfuscation and frequent updates have made it an extremely stealthy and evasive botnet. Once infected, the Kraken malware uses the victim's machine to send large volumes of spam advertising various scams and questionable products like high-interest loans, fake luxury goods, and gambling sites. Researchers observed bots in the network sending as many as 500,000spamemails per day.

See also

• Computer worm
• Internet bot

External links

• Fisher, Dennis,Kraken botnet balloons to dangerous levelsArchived2011-01-11 at theWayback Machine,SearchSecurity.com, Apr. 7, 2008, retrieved 2008-04-07
• Orion, Egan,There's a new botnet worm on the loose: Kraken seeks to sink the Fortune 500,The Inquirer,April 7, 2008, retrieved 2008-04-07
• Neri,Kraken Botnet, la Botnet mas grande del Mundo,retrieved 2008-04-07, enespañol.
• Pierce, Cody,[1]
• Amini, Pedram,Kraken Botnet Infiltration,2008-04-28, retrieved 2008-04-28