ZeroAccess Botnet Surges

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Dark Reading is sub only, so I won't post the link... however the full/original Kindsight Security Labs Report is Outdated URL (Invalid) as PDF download.

ZeroAccess Botnet Surges
2.2 million infected with fraudulent ad-click botnet's malware, new report finds Oct 30, 2012 | 01:08 PM |
By Kelly Jackson Higgins
Dark Reading
A peer-to-peer botnet known for ad-click fraud and estimated at making $100,000 per day for its operator now has infected some 2.2 million users worldwide.
New data released today from the third quarter 2012 malware report by Kindsight, an Alcatel-Lucent company, says ZeroAccess is the most active botnet and is growing through its new "super-node" model where an infected host is connected directly to the Internet without a home router or network address translation device.

"The ZeroAccess botnet has grown significantly to become the most active botnet we've measured this year," said Kevin McNamee, security architect and director of Kindsight Security Labs. "Cybercriminals are primarily using it to take over victim computers and conduct ad-click fraud.

Something that might be of interest to the internet gaming and Bitcoin community....

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There are two versions of the botnet: one that performs Bitcoin mining and uses an encrypted peer-to-peer protocol for communications, and another that uses the super-node approach for command and control....