Botnets, Zombies and Botherds - How DDoS Attacks Work

Filed in archive Gambling General on December 15, 2004

The one thing that really stands out in 2004 in the Gambling Industry has been the increase in DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks against Betting and Gaming companies - usually by gangs of Eastern European organised criminals out to extort the companies.

William Hill, BlueSq and Betfair have all come under attack in the last 12 months and have seen trade dip quite considerably during these periods

The Independent Online has published an excellent article explaining how DDos attacks are created.

The online mafia

So how do botnets work? A bot is a hidden remote-control program loaded on to your computer without your consent, and increasingly used for villainous purposes. Under the control of a "botherd", the botnet can be anything from few hundred to tens of thousands of machines. Large botnets pack a mighty electronic punch when the combined bandwidth attacks a website, denying access to legitimate users. Botnets send out spam, carry out identity theft, mount "phishing" scams (getting people to divulge personal information and data) or disseminate new malware (malicious software, designed to damage or disrupt a system).

Originally, botnets were developed to keep tab on IRC channels - as helpers - but soon someone realised that by spreading these 'helpers' an IRC channel could control groups of PCs

Botherds could therefore control a number of bot activities and a one line command can cause havoc and initiate major attacks

With the spread of malware Its estimated that over 11 million PCs are unknowingly and permanently infected as 'zombies' - that take part in a DDoS attack.

The most popular DDoS attack in gaming has been a simultaneous email spam that has disabled servers for hours. However, extortion gangs are now attempting to blackmail firms by threatening to spam their customer base in the name of the gambling company.

To keep up to date with betting sites and potential outages, Netcraft keeps continued watch on 20 top UK betting sites