MS goes on the offensive against a botnet

[DJofSD]

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303722104579240151385337672

Then, on Thursday, they pounced. Armed with a court order and law enforcement help overseas, the team took steps to cut off communication links to European-based servers considered the mega-brain for an army of zombie computers known as ZeroAccess.

[Dave Schwartz]

Wow!

Pretty ingenious way to steal, if you ask me. Right up there with the famous story of the first knwon bank cyber theft where the programmer (supposedly) rounded the daily interest debits down to the penny, rounded the daily interest credits up to the penny, and had the difference put into his own accounts.

I guess it is called "salami slicing." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salami_slicing)

Snopes says it is "Legend." (http://www.snopes.com/business/bank/salami.asp)

[wilderness]

"MS goes on the offensive against a botnet'

That's sorta like the pot calling the kettle black.

Although MSN-Bing does NOt function as a bbotnet. . . .

MSN-Bing bots has the worst and most abusive procedures launched daily against most any website, and it has been that way since the MSN search engines were implemented in 2003 from a non-MSN IP Range (without properly identifying themselves as MSN (compliance protocols have been in place for 30-years)).

BTW, did anybody see Sixty Minutes last week and the Amazon hype?
And then in all the local news channels for a few days about drones delivering packages?

Amazon's hosting service (AWS) encourages abuse by bots and botnets against most any website because because the resulting traffic generates major revenues. And the abuse has been allowed since the inception of AWS.

[DJofSD]

The method described in the that first cyber theft is exactly what had happened at an S&L I worked for many, many years ago.

One day I was working with one of the key techies in my group. He mentioned he had uncovered exactly the same thing. It was way before my time with the company but I had no reason to doubt the story especially when the project we were working on was upgrading the security on the system.

[DJofSD]

BTW, did anybody see Sixty Minutes last week and the Amazon hype?
And then in all the local news channels for a few days about drones delivering packages?
Yes, and unless they are able to reproduce various algorithms and techniques used by the military, I don't see those droids actually coming to pass, at least any time real soon.

But, who knows, if they can deliver a six pack right before the game starts, I'm sure they'll generate lots of revenue. It'll be endorsed by MADD.

[Dave Schwartz]

I think that was a great advertisement for Amazon, but if you think about it, imagine the difficulty with each book being delivered by a drone being flown by a real person. How long will it take for that drone to get "across town" from the shipping point? What will be the "cost per delivery" including labor, maintenance, etc.?

Finally, if I am completely wrong, and this actually happens, The technology will take off. Next we will have hundreds of thousands of small drones flying everywhere, crashing into each other, falling from the sky into traffic, causing accidents, etc. Sounds like a nightmare to me.

Kind of like the airwaves... where the bands are already overcrowded.

[wilderness]

The method described in the that first cyber theft is exactly what had happened at an S&L I worked for many, many years ago.

DJ,
I've no reason to doubt the validity of the botnet, only that I find it humorous that MS is badgering a botent :)

BTW, here's the very same IP range that MSN first began their crawls from in 2003 (under dubious conditions) and here they are just the other day:

131.107.192.70 - - [06/Dec/2013:11:26:08 -0700] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 9182 "-" "asynchttp"

[wilderness]

How long will it take for that drone to get "across town" from the shipping point?

One might only imagine the capability for sportsmen in areas where small-game hunting is still permitted ;)

[DJofSD]

I think that was a great advertisement for Amazon, but if you think about it, imagine the difficulty with each book being delivered by a drone being flown by a real person. How long will it take for that drone to get "across town" from the shipping point? What will be the "cost per delivery" including labor, maintenance, etc.?

Finally, if I am completely wrong, and this actually happens, The technology will take off. Next we will have hundreds of thousands of small drones flying everywhere, crashing into each other, falling from the sky into traffic, causing accidents, etc. Sounds like a nightmare to me.

Kind of like the airwaves... where the bands are already overcrowded.
And, don't forget the tendency for efficiencies to result in larger and larger capacities. If there wasn't regs from the Interstate Commerce Commission, I'm sure the size of semi-tractor trailers would be huge.

Then, there's the old person complaining about the droids scaring the wild life.

[DJofSD]

One might only imagine the capability for sportsmen in areas where small-game hunting is still permitted ;)
Snipe hunting evolves into taking pot shots at droids?

The highway departments will like that. Not so many road side signs being shot up.

[wilderness]

I'm sure the size of semi-tractor trailers would be huge.

Michigan (and I'm sure there are a few other states) has to be the worst in this regulation where additional axles are permitted to carry larger loads and destroy the roads in the process.

Then, there's the old person complaining about the droids scaring the wild life.

I was musing more for targets, rather than upsetting the ecology ;)

[DJofSD]

As a kid, I used to catch birds using a box propped up on a stick with a string attached. With a droid landing in your yard, I imagine a small throw-net would suffice in capturing a vehicle. Or, even more devious, attach a new payload before it takes off. Boom!

[Longshot6977]

Or a young kid (heck, even an adult) goes to grab it when it lands and gets cut by the blades. Lawsuit.
There's a lot of negatives about these delivery droids. Shooting it down, using fireworks on it, stepping on it etc. I wonder what the weight limit is on them, like will it deliver a case of beer or 5 books or box of fried chicken, pizza and subs or whatever else. Will a person get scared of it and call the police about seeing a 'UFO' etc. Should be interesting if the day ever comes.

[MJC922]

As a kid, I used to catch birds using a box propped up on a stick with a string attached. With a droid landing in your yard, I imagine a small throw-net would suffice in capturing a vehicle. Or, even more devious, attach a new payload before it takes off. Boom!

What they don't tell you about are the drones will have video pushed to the Amazon cloud and precise GPS coordinates will notify the closest police cruisers in real time. Bezos will think of everything, believe me. The supermarkets will be going away before he does.

[Dave Schwartz]

Oh, he isn't going away. The guy was brilliant and the investors very patient to make Amazon profitable.

But this? I doubt it will ever fly.

I think exchange wagering has a better chance, if they can ever figure out how to make a trifecta. LOL

[MJC922]

Oh, he isn't going away. The guy was brilliant and the investors very patient to make Amazon profitable.

But this? I doubt it will ever fly.

I think exchange wagering has a better chance, if they can ever figure out how to make a trifecta. LOL

You may be right, but i dunno, do you really think it's going to be UPS trucks forever? At some point there's a leap forward and I can't see it being 50 years away, driverless something, whatever way he can deliver more efficiently (and cheaply) I think something is inevitable certainly within the next 20 years if not the next 10 would be my guess.

[DJofSD]

Whom is it, Google, that has a prototype driverless vehicle? UPS will have a Johnny Cab type of truck and the droids will be used drop off the package.