When we run all our protection software this is what we are protecting our 
computers against.


Link to article here:
http://www.localnewsleader.com/brocktown/stories/index.php?action=fullnews&id=129438


Botmaster' pleads guilty to computer crimes Staff and agencies
23 January, 2006




By Dan Whitcomb 11 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES - A 20-year-old accused of using hundreds of thousands of 
hijacked computers, or "bot nets," to damage systems and send massive waves 
of spam across the Internet, pleaded guilty to federal charges on Monday.

Jeanson James Ancheta, who prosecutors said was a well-known member of the 
"Botmaster Underground" -- a secret network of hackers skilled in "bot" 
attacks -- was arrested in November in what prosecutors said was the first 
such case of its kind.

The Los Angeles area man pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy, damaging 
computers used by the U.S. government and fraud. He had been scheduled to 
stand trial later this year on a 17-count indictment.

Ancheta faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison, although prosecutors 
say federal guidelines recommend between five and seven years.

"Mr. Ancheta was responsible for a particularly insidious string of crimes," 
U.S. Attorney's spokesman Thom Mrozek said. "He hijacked somewhere in the 
area of half a million computer systems. This not only affected computers 
like the one in your home, but it allowed him and others to orchestrate 
large scale attacks."

A bot is a program that surreptitiously installs itself on a computer so it 
be controls by a hacker. A bot net is a network of such robot, or "zombie," 
computers, which can harness their collective power to do considerable 
damage or send out huge amounts of junk e-mail.

Prosecutors say the case was unique because Ancheta was accused of profiting 
from his attacks by selling access to his "bot nets" to other hackers and 
planting adware, software that causes advertisements to pop up, into 
infected computers.

Among computers he attacked were some at the Weapons Division of the U.S. 
Naval Air Warfare Center in China Lake, California, and at the U.S. 
Department of Defense Department of Defense.

In entering the guilty pleas, Ancheta admitted using computer servers he 
controlled to transmit malicious code over the Web to scan for and exploit 
vulnerable computers, which he then controlled as "zombie" machines.

As part of the plea, he agreed to pay some $15,000 in restitution to the 
military facilities and forfeit the proceeds of his illicit activities, 
including more than $60,000 in cash, a BMW automobile and computer 
equipment.


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