'Botmaster' pleads guilty to computer crimes

[Pendragon_6]

Tue Jan 24, 2006
By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A 20-year-old accused of using hundreds of thousands of hijacked computers, or "bot nets," to damage systems and send massive waves of spam across the Internet, pleaded guilty to federal charges on Monday.

Jeanson James Ancheta, who prosecutors said was a well-known member of the "Botmaster Underground" -- a secret network of hackers skilled in "bot" attacks -- was arrested in November in what prosecutors said was the first such case of its kind.

The Los Angeles area man pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy, damaging computers used by the U.S. government and fraud. He had been scheduled to stand trial later this year on a 17-count indictment.

Ancheta faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison, although prosecutors say federal guidelines recommend between five and seven years.

"Mr. Ancheta was responsible for a particularly insidious string of crimes," U.S. Attorney's spokesman Thom Mrozek said. "He hijacked somewhere in the area of half a million computer systems. This not only affected computers like the one in your home, but it allowed him and others to orchestrate large scale attacks."

A bot is a program that surreptitiously installs itself on a computer so it be controls by a hacker. A bot net is a network of such robot, or "zombie," computers, which can harness their collective power to do considerable damage or send out huge amounts of junk e-mail.



In Full
Reuters (http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyid=2006-01-24T135348Z_01_N23349327_RTRUKOC_0_US-CRIME-BOTMASTER.xml&rpc=22)

[Wolfcounsel]

It's too bad none of those buttholes have discovered a program that will wipe their asses, and so anybody can tell they are in the vicinity of the turd balls by their low-hanging pants, and the smell.

[Republican_Legion]

I think botmaster should have gotten a life sentence without parole.

[BEST45CAL]

they should be treated like terrorists.

[Republican_Legion]

they should be treated like terrorists.
Agreed.

[DoctorDoom]

Before going to those lengths on the Botmaster butthole, give some serious thought to the clueless owners of the "hundreds of thousands of hijacked computers" whose mindless clicking of every f**king email or IM attachment compromised their computers in the first place.

Computers can't become zombies (http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,116841,00.asp) without the cooperation of their users.

[DoctorDoom]

Duplicated from a post in the Neighborhood Watch forum ...

<hr>
Basic computer security rules:

• ALWAYS have a good anti-virus program running.

• ALWAYS keep its virus definitions up to date.

• NEVER click on an attachment, no matter who sent it, until it has been certified clean. Don't assume that it's safe, even if it has not been flagged by the AV program's email scan. It may well be a virus that's newer than the definitions.

• With Outlook Express, Go to View > Layout and uncheck Show preview pane. Some nastyware activates as soon as an email is opened. Turning off the Preview Pane puts the user in full charge of whatever emails are opened.

• In OE, it's useful to activate the column for attachments. Right-click the bar with From/To/Subject, and click on Columns. Checkmark Attachments. A paperclip will then appear in that column if the email has an attachment.

• Every computer needs a firewall, even those on dial-up connections. XP has one built in, but programs like BlackICE or ZoneAlarm are better. To check if XP's built-in firewall is active, open up the Control Panel (Start > Settings), click on Network Connections > Advanced. The firewall is turned on or off from there. It should be on if it's the only one.

• Open Windows Explorer by clicking any folder. Click Tools > Folder options > View. Scroll down and under Hidden files and folders, select Show hidden files and folders. This assures that no files with the Hidden attribute set will be invisible. They will be identifiable by having a faded or grayed-out appearance.

• Below that, UNcheck Hide extensions for known file types. This will minimize the possibility of viruses sneaking through with a double file extension, e.g., the "Love Bug" virus that came as ILOVEYOU.TXT.vbs, which by default displayed as ILOVEYOU.TXT. The .vbs extension (an executable Visual Basic Script) was suppressed by the default "Hide extensions" setting. What harm could a text file cause?

• Keep your Windows installation up to date with the latest security downloads from MIcrosoft. Even if they take a few hours to fetch on a dial-up connection, it's less time than is required to reload windows and restore all the programs.

• Any irreplaceable files should be backed up regularly, in the event that a virus or hard drive failure results in data loss. The simplest and safest way is a USB/Firewire-connected external hard drive. They are of course susceptible to drive failure, but the likelihood of it and the computer's drive failing simultaneously is nil.

Following these simple steps can save a world of grief.

[Rhino]

Never browse the internet or check e-mail while logged in as an administrator. Create a non-administrator account to perform daily functions, so if you do activate some malware, the damage is far more likely to be limited. Hint: If you log on with the same user account you set your PC up with in the beginning, you are almost certainly logged in with administrator rights.
As another alternative to the Windows Firewall, which has numerous limitations, many antivirus packages have firewalls built-in. They typically require less user interaction and technical expertise than BlackICE or ZoneAlarm. I personally use Norton Internet Security 2006. I was unimpressed with their previous 'package' versions, but this version has worked quite well for me. I understand several of the other antivirus vendors have good firewalls too.

[Rhino]

The simplest and safest way is a USB/Firewire-connected external hard drive.
I have of late become an extreme fan of USB flash (pen) drives. Those things are great. Data size is limited though.

[DoctorDoom]

I have a couple of those li'l buggers, one 256 MB and one a gull gig. Here's an 8-GB (http://www.dreamhardware.com/store/product/index.php?product_id=386713) unit for a paltry $741.51. Buy two at that price.

They're great for transferring files between boxes. I'm not sure I'd trust them with anything irreplaceable.

I just backed up my data files, and they eat up about 40 GB. The Maxtor 80-gig hosts them nicely. It would take a schitteload of flash drives. :D

[BEST45CAL]

I have a couple of those li'l buggers, one 256 MB and one a full gig. Here's an 8-GB (http://www.dreamhardware.com/store/product/index.php?product_id=386713) unit for a paltry $741.51.

at some point they'll have to make them with their own little tripods. i don't think those flimsy USB connections could handle much more weight. lol