FBI's Bot Roast II Sees Great Success

coondoggie passed us another Network World link, this one discussing the FBI's newest offensive against botnets. They're calling it Operation Bot Roast II. Apparently it's already been quite successful, leading to indictments, search warrants, and the uncovering of some '$20 million in economic loss. writes "Today, botnets are the weapon of choice of cyber criminals. They seek to conceal their criminal activities by using third party computers as vehicles for their crimes. In Bot Roast II, we see the diverse and complex nature of crimes that are being committed through the use of botnets," said FBI Director Robert S. Mueller. "Despite this enormous challenge, we will continue to be aggressive in finding those responsible for attempting to exploit unknowing Internet users." I can't help but think, though: how many more of these things are out there that this 'sting' didn't touch?

just a drop in the bucket

[Anonymous Coward]

$20 million in economic loss

So they stopped about a days worth of profit?

well

[moogied]

20 million in economic loss

And what was the cost of this project to begin with?

Re:don't worry about how many...

[77Punker]

Nobody on Slashdot trusts governments, but you make vague claims about widespread government and business use of botnets. Care to show us some examples?

I don't understand why the NSA needs a botnet; they have all the computing power they need and know how to spoof anything else. They don't need your computer to do their dirtywork; they can do it all on their own.

Who cares?

[wiredog]

If the cost of a burglary investigation is likely to exceed the cost of the burglary, do the police not investigate?

Crime is relatively unchanged

[JRHelgeson]

While they did work to take down some botnets, they could only take out the criminals where they had jurisdiction - which is in the USA. Yes they work with Interpol and have made some symbolic arrests overseas. By and large, the botherders and real criminals continue to operate from countries with internet access combined with a dysfunctional or non-existent legal system (think Russia, Nigeria, Brazil), or simply where the computer crime laws have yet to catch up with the technology (think Spain, Portugal). Countries such as Russia, Brazil are high up on that list of professional criminals that are able to afford the bribes necessary to stay in business.

Re:don't worry about how many...

[blast3r]

I just now realized I don't know what "Score:5, Informative" means on /. anymore. Shouldn't this be rated 'funny'?

95% of all email is spam

[mcelrath]

When the level of spam drops back below 95% of it being spam [slashdot.org], I'll believe these guys are doing their jobs.

Until then, they're just a bunch of ineffectual wankers, and are increasingly more ineffectual as time goes on.

The FTC, FBI, CIA, and NSA are wasting their resources chasing some overinflated bogeyman risk ("terrorists") and meanwhile our communications, financial and transaction systems are under heavy assult. The long term effect of this is lack of confidence in transactions in general, and that is the primary thing that holds economies together.

In other words, we're seriously boned unless these jokers get their act together.

Re:don't worry about how many...

[Danathar]

I only believe what I have evidence to see, unless we are talking about religion then it's a self evident truth that I'm only privy to.

Now not saying that your THEORY that the NSA has their own botnets does not have merit (I can think of reasons why) but do you actually have evidence? Or are you just saying "The NSA is Evil and Evil hackers like Botnets so the NSA has botnets"

We need RICO prosecutions.

[swb]

They need to follow the money behind some of these spammers and start RICO prosecutions against anyone who even had a tangental relationship with these people.

If the legitimate world was worried about $100k fines and 20 years in a Federal-run-by-the-Aryan-Brotherhood-pound-me-in-the-ass prison for dealing with spammers and their ilk, it'd get a lot colder out there for spammers.

Re:The glass is half empty?

[plague3106]

Unlike botnets though, problems associated with drugs would dry up if they simply removed laws banning said drugs.

Re:Who cares?

[Smidge204]

The fallacy there is thinking financial loss is the ONLY aspect of botnet operation. Botnets cause a lot more damage than what fraud and spam cost.

A better analogy would be investigating a serial arsonist and discovering a link to a recent rash of burglary incidents in the process.
=Smidge=

Re:The glass is half empty?

[PitaBred]

Yeah, I mean, what's wrong with a little 'roid rage? Someone wacked out on PCP feeling no pain deciding to go on a rampage, people OD'ing because of ready access to heroin, cocaine, whatever.

I'm for a little deregulation of things like pot that aren't that addictive or dangerous, but a completely uncontrolled drug system would be at least as bad or worse for our country than the drug war is now.

Re:The glass is half empty?

[MrMonroe]

Who wants totally uncontrolled system? Weed at 18, harder drugs at 21, no PCP or Oxy without prescription. Fair? Tax the lot of it and let transparent companies take control of the market and you eliminate virtually all of the violence associated with the drug trade. As it is, we simply enrich the kingpins and encourage more people to get into the business.

Re:The glass is half empty?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure. We can all see how the legalization of tobacco and alcohol has eradicated demand for those products.

Is this a good thing?

[fastest fascist]

Whenever I hear about law enforcement successes in the "cyber" sphere, I can't help but feel a bit uneasy. I've no love for botnets or the people who run them, but I also don't much like the idea of an increased police influence on the Internet. Whatever techniques they learn in apprehending criminals, they will also apply when acting as censors, and I also fear that these wins over criminals will act as good propaganda for having a policed net in general.

Re:FBI vs. Russian Mafia

[Anonymous Coward]

The FBI is not as effective as the Russian mafia?

My response is that the Russian mafia will never be as effective as American capitalism and democracy. It's the thug-like 'take and take' mentality that guides the motivations of these individuals will only really get them so far. They really don't want to work for anything at all. They're the bottom of the barrel scum of humanity. They know it, and that's all they apparently know how to be.

Unfortunately, a gang of thugs like the Russian mafia aren't savvy enough to actually create something constructive, i.e. creating a real product that can truly compete in the world market. But then, as they say... it's always been easier to destroy than to create.

What's more unfortunate is that the same individuals inflict far more damage on on their own people than they ever do here in the US.