Bot Wars

There has been a spurious increase in the number of worms circulating the Internet over the past one/two weeks. CERT has reported worms and their variants written by rival gangs that are targeting each other and trying to take control of computers. All of them exploit the recent Windows Plug n Play exploit. These worms not only take control of computers but also search and destroy other rival worms. The intention of these criminal cyber gangs is to take control of an army of computers much bigger than any other, to launch distributed and coordinated attacks on organizations for financial benefits. Thus have started the bot wars!

There are some interesting articles on this in BBCNews and Zdnet.

This is unbelievable. Gone were the days when the Internet was exclusive to the universities and the research community. And gone are the days when this lone creative introvert of a kid tried to showcase his exploits by breaking into systems. Now has arrived the day of the cyber gangs. Groups of organized and highly qualified individuals who have gone underground for the sole purpose of being nefarious mercenaries!

I wonder how the Internet and the world will look like 10 years from now. My two cents are on the coming of cyber police who are as prevalent as the modern day policeman. Only difference would be that the weaponry used will be totally out of the world!