Botnet Herders - Some info + a report you may find of interest

I recently received an Anonymous post regarding a piece I wrote about Botnet Herders and how to keep your loved ones safe from this scam.  The post said:   “Seems to me that some credit should be paid to the presenter of this material to which you based your story: http://blackhat.com/presentations/bh-dc-10/Stevens_Kevin/BlackHat-DC-2010-Stevens-Underground-wp.pdf”

Anonymous – thank you for the post.  I had actually not seen the report by Kevin Stevens before creating my segment, although it is an excellent source of information on “pay-per-install” (PPI) - a growing problem for law enforcement.

In researching topics for consumers, I focus on issues and resources that non-tech readers need to be aware of and in terms they can relate to.  I pull from my work experience as a CIO while also checking a few sources on and off the web.  Some of the sources I used for the Botnet Herder story were on Wikipedia and a few other websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botnet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compensation_methods#Pay-per-install_.28PPI.29

www.earning4u.com (good information, but I recommend blocking this site from your browser!)

http://www.endlesscorner.com/pay-per-install-basics-making-money-online-the-dirty-way (good commentary, some of which questioned whether this practice is illegal).

I also talked to a few university officials and professors and former law enforcement to get their views on this ongoing issue.

With that said, I would like to give a shout out to Kevin Stevens and his company SecureWorks at www.SecureWorks.com .  For the technically minded, you can find his paper on PPI at http://blackhat.com/presentations/bh-dc-10/Stevens_Kevin/BlackHat-DC-2010-Stevens-Underground-wp.pdf.  It was presented at the Black Hat conference, a technical conference that brings together thought leaders in the security world.  Impressive work and I am now following Kevin on Twitter.