Brussels, 08/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 8 March, the European cyber security agency (ENISA) published a comprehensive study on the dangers of botnets and how to neutralise them. Botnets are “cyber zombies”, networks of ordinary computers that have been infiltrated by cyber criminals to commit crime, without the individual computer owners being aware (spams, phishing, viruses, data theft, etc).
The report tackles the question of establishing reliable estimates on the extent of botnets, which is necessary if appropriate policies are to be worked out and investment is to be effectively targeted to tackle this issue. It will also help towards developing recommendations for all stakeholders involved in fighting this kind of cyber crime. ENISA also exposes the six major challenges facing political leaders. The author of the report, Giles Hogben, underlines the fact that the number of botnets defines the political agenda and determines “hundreds of millions of euros of security investments. We should understand what is behind them”. Nevertheless, the report concludes that many of the figures compiled on botnets are likely to be inaccurate and that even a small number of bots can cause significant damage. Size is not everything and the number of machines infected is not enough to evaluate the extent of the threat, explains Professor Hogben. Recommendations cover legal, political and technical aspects in the struggle against botnets and provide indications for the different groups involved in targeting their action, notably, by way of: the clarification of measures aimed to encourage users to protect their computers against botnets and support for notification programmes by internet access providers. The report also highlights the need for close international cooperation between governments, technical bodies and legislative institutions. The two reports will be published during a conference in Cologne on Wednesday 9 March. A third report will focus on legal problems in the fight against botnets and will follow in the second quarter of the year. (I.L./transl.fl)