Hi, As a starting point, "bots" fall within the virus/spyware/adware/malware/break-in vulnerability spectrum. Detection, prevention, and susceptibility fall along those lines. If you've previously made a decision not to worry about anti-virus for Mac OS X due to the relatively low risk, you need not be alarmed by last night's programme. If you have a monitoring system like "Little Snitch", bot activity will be detected unless the bot hides itself within the kernel (highly specific to OS versions and CPU - rare for us).
Bots, zombie networks, identity theft, mules, etc., are old and well-established phenomena -- nothing has changed overnight. We have been living alongside these for as long as we would care to remember. *However*, Mac OS X is not immune and there are some botnets for Mac OS X that have emerged this year, so the risk for Mac users is probably higher than before. I have no idea if these new botnets are viable, or if they fizzle out straight away. The next one "could" be a biggie... *Caution* If you are going to buy anti-badware software, don't buy it through spam. I know it sounds silly, but there's a phenomenon called "scareware", where fear is used to trick people into buying anti-virus software that's either ineffective or a bot itself! James -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Unsubscribe - <mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au>
