Remote control wars

摘要

Botnets have infected millions of computers, but steps are being taken to combat this growing cybercrime problem, reports Deb Radcliff. Monitoring an illicit Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channel recently, Nicholas Albright couldn't believe what he was seeing. First, he observed a network operator sending commands to install keyloggers on thousands of compromised, remote-controlled computers. Then; all this private data started flying over the channel — HIPAA-protected medical information, financial account numbers, usernames and passwords.