The department of Justice and the FBI along with the
cooperation of Microsoft Corporation and the Botnet Task Force have announced
the results of an ongoing cyber crime initiative. Operation Bot Roast is a national initiative
that has uncovered over 1 million victim computers infected by botnet software.
The FBI release states:
"A botnet is a collection of compromised computers
under the remote command and control of a criminal “botherder.” Most owners of
the compromised computers are unknowing and unwitting victims. They have
unintentionally allowed unauthorized access and use of their computers as a vehicle
to facilitate other crimes, such as identity theft, denial of service attacks,
phishing, click fraud, and the mass distribution of spam and spyware. Because
of their widely distributed capabilities, botnets are a growing threat to
national security, the national information infrastructure, and the
economy."
The FBI is working with industry partners and will be
notifying victim owners of the computers.
Link to full press release: http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel07/botnet061307.htm