Cyberpunk Radio SF #118 - Botnets

Bot net operatives have taken control of almost 12 million new IP addresses since January. The United States has the largest number of bot net-controlled machines, with 18 percent of the world total. The number of new zombie machines represents a 50 percent rise over last year. Researchers attribute the explosion to bot net controllers trying to wrestle complete control of the Internet. A computer worm is a self-replicating computer program- painting the Net in shades of crimson and green; fade to grey. It uses the Network to send copies of itself to other computers on the Network. Worms get code updates periodically, making them nearly impossible to disrupt. Infected machines query for updated commands through encrypted p2p networks- the Darknets. It appears the latest variant of Worms are part of a coordinated, distributed bot net of historic proportion. If the number of infected machines controlled by the bot net proceeds to increase at the current exponential rate, nearly 1/3 of all computers connected to the Internet will be infected by the end of next year. Authorities claim the true purpose of this ubiquitous bot net remains a mystery. Until recently the bot net has been essentially dormant, reticent of purpose. Deep packet NSA intercepts from Darknet, decoded via MAGISTRAND using parallel SILKWORTH (pdf) supercomputer systems, hint at the nefarious goals of the Bot Net; encrypted data streams used by the botnet take time to decipher- weeks at a minimum, even for the NSA. This results in a equivalent time shift from the time stamp on the intercepted data. This much is known. Recruitment of human agents into various Darknet Factions appears to be well under way. Additionally, some select Massively Multiplayer Online Role playing (MMOR) and First person shooter (FPS) computer games contain "back doors" that allow redirects from local (user) and game company servers to a slew of encrypted p2p Darknet network servers located in such far flung locations as North Korea, Russia, China, Pakistan, and Brazil. These darknet paths are then used to recruit new faction members through the video games themselves. IP addresses of these servers is changed through encrypted updates, making disruption impossible; a new, anarchistic government- DarkNet. In this Darknet, much like in video games, level up achievements are awarded for outstanding performance. However, unlike in video games, achievement awards are based on real world actions- such as new member recruitment, development of underground operations involved in subversive or 'criminal' activity. A recently arrested member of a particularly notorious Darknet Faction, believed to be involved in sex worker trafficking and drug distribution, bragged of assets including control of networks in major banking and infrastructure centers, as well as military command and control networks. It is rumored that the reported "accidental" launch of a trident missile last month was a direct result of this Factions' intrusion into a previously secure NET COM systems. Jessica Mars Size: 7220869 Duration: 7:16 Audio File: mp3