Uh, Mom? The Air Force Just Attacked Our PC [Broadband Reports]
File this one under just how dangerous the threat of botnets have become to the national security infrastructure. U.S. Air Force Colonel Charlie Williamson has floated the idea of "friendly botnets" to attack unfriendly ones in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation.
...he argues that if a computer owner has failed to use anti-virus
software and install the latest security patches, that machine may be a
legitimate military target. "It may, in the right circumstance, be
worthwhile and even fair for the US to hit a computer that is hitting
us and stop it from harming us for an hour or days when that computer
owner failed to take basic steps to protect us," Col Williamson told
the programme. I'm sure that the combat of digital intruders and attackers is a daily occurrence for the Air Force, which is charged with the nation's cyber defense. Based on Colonel Williamson's comments, it appears that there is an emerging threat coming from machines that have usurped from their users' control by malicious programs designed to co-opt them into a botnet. Operating with thousands or millions of other compromised computers, attackers have a botnet that can be directed to attack sensitive national security computer networks.
Unfortunately, few, if any, users whose computers that have been co-opted into a malicious botnet realize their system has been compromised. Should those users' machines be subject to a counter attack from the U.S. Air Force's own cyber defenses? What if those users' systems are located in the U.S.?
As malware continues to proliferate around the globe and becomes more sophisticated, I expect that we'll see more comments like those of Colonel Williamson as computer security experts look for even more sophisticated methods of stopping the threat.
Here at Insight, we have an entire team of security professionals working daily on mitigating the threats posed to our users by malware and malicious botnets. We investigate those threats regularly so, if you suspect an intrusion on your computer, be sure to report it to us at abuse@insightbb.com.
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