On Dec 8, 2010, at 5:58 PM, <bmanning@vacation.karoshi.com> wrote:
actually, botnets are an artifact. claiming that the tool is the problem might be a bit short sighted. with the evolution of Internet technologies (IoT) i suspect botnet-like structures to become much more prevelent and useful for things other than coordinated attacks.
I'm a big advocate of distributed/agile computing models with swarming/flocking behaviors - see slide 32 of this preso for an example: <https://files.me.com/roland.dobbins/c07vk1> When these things are harnessed together in order to launch DDoS attacks and steal financial information and intellectual property and so forth, we call them 'botnets'. They're a force-multiplier which allow the attacker to avoid the von Clausewitzian friction of conflict, and which give him a comfortable degree of anonymity, not to mention highly asymmetrical force projection capabilities and global presence. 'Botnet-like structures' = botnets, for purposes of this discussion. Semantic hair-splitting. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Roland Dobbins <rdobbins@arbor.net> // <http://www.arbornetworks.com> Sell your computer and buy a guitar.