Botnets are a new phenomenon. [ Gadi!?]
hehe, I won't take the bait on that one Martin. :)
I suppose that back in the days when it was "new" they weren't really called "armies", and _hackers_ would actually set up "real" bots on pwned boxes. Today we see less and less actual eggdrops/energymechs botnets, and a ton more IRC-related Trojan horses consisting botnets.
The issue is rather new in the security world "press". They are still testing the ground. The actual press will start buzzing about it soon, to a very large degree due to much noise created by me for a long time on some security related mailing lists. I am not sure if this is good or bad.
Many people still believe DDoS is mostly constructed by using broadcast... (remember the rootshell days with lists being distributed?) people "throw" the word botnet around for the past couple of years.. but nothing beyond that.
It can turn into a media "hype" issue. It can turn into a public.. whatever.
Thing is, people will be more conscience about it and maybe something more will be done than a select few who waste their private time fighting this against people who make money from it.
As to the date "all this" started.. I'd have to say that it started a long time ago, but really hit it with the big come-back of Trojan horses (not that they ever really disappeared) during 1996-1997.
Gadi.