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FBI Needs Help Notifying Cyber Bot Victims

Commendable though it is, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's effort to warn more than 1 million computer owners whose PCs are being remotely controlled by "bot herders" amount to a ripple in a vast ocean of cybercrime. However, if the FBI makes enough arrests, perhaps it will prevent hackers from engaging in the malicious practice.

The federal organization is known to be working on five cybercrime cases, yielding the 1 million victims and three arrests so far. Despite the FBI's good work, notifying the 1 million customers is going to be far trickier than it sounds, because Internet Service Providers will have to do it. The agency can hand over IP addresses to ISPs; "If they choose to, they can contact their customers," says Shawn Henry, deputy assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division.

There may be a conflict of interest here, as ISPs may not want information about infected computers on their network leaked to the press. That said, the FBI still has to comb through the vast number of IP addresses it's hoisted from the arrested bot herders. If any large companies are involved, they will be notified directly.

Read the whole story at Information Week »

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