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How Botnets aid credit card fraud
A BBC investigation has proved how easy it is to buy and use botnets. A botnet is an automatic term for a collection of software robots (bots), that run autonomously and automatically. They can be used to send out spam messages, carry out Denial of Service (DoS) attacks and store stolen data including credit card details.
The BBC’s Click programme carried out an investigation using a ‘low skill’ bot which sent out a spam mail to two test email addresses. Within hours the inboxes started to fill up with thousands of spam messages and it is estimated that the investigation ended with 22,000 infected computers.
Greg Day from security firm McAfee explained the value of botnets for committing credit card fraud: “Computers from the US and the UK go for about $350 to $400 (£254-£290) for 1,000 because they've got much more financial details, like online banking passwords and credit cards details"
The video below is an excerpt from the full report, and shows how quickly a botnet can begin work. The full programme will be broadcast on Saturday 14 March at 11.30am on the BBC News Channel.
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