Mcafee Report: Bot Infections Jump 50 Percent Over Last Year

[Peaches]

McAfee Report: Bot Infections Jump 50 Percent Over Last Year

Botnets have added nearly 12 million new IP addresses since January, with Conficker malware representing only around one percent of all infections

May 05, 2009 | 10:15 AM

By Kelly Jackson Higgins

DarkReading

"The number of bot-infected machines has jumped nearly 50 percent over last year, with the U.S. now home to the most zombies in the world, according to a new McAfee report released today.

And the Conficker worm -- which grabbed mainstream media attention last month -- is not a major factor in the bot infection counts nor overall infections, with Conficker infections accounting for only about one percent of all virus detections in the first quarter of this year, according to David Marcus, director of security research for McAfee.

McAfee Avert Labs found 12 million new IP addresses performing bot operations in the first quarter, according to the report, but spam activity still has not caught up to its level prior to the McColo takedown last November. "The activity level of new zombies indicates that the spammers are working hard to regain the infrastructure lost and that volumes will return to previous levels sometime soon," the report says. "

Details at DarkReading - http://tinyurl.com/czmt8m