Phatbot arrest throws open trade in zombie PCs

The arrest of the suspected author of the Phatbot Trojan could lead to valuable clues about the illicit trade in zombie PCs. The arrest of the alleged Phatbot perp was overshadowed by the unmasking of the admitted Sasser author, Sven Jaschan. But the Phatbot case may shed the mostlight into the dark recesses of the computer underground. Phatbot is much less common than NetSky but is linked much more closely with the trade in compromised PCs to send spam or for other nefarious purposes. Viruses such as My-Doom and Bagle (and Trojans such as Phatbot) surrender the control of infected PCs to hackers. This expanding network of infected, zombie PCs can be used either for spam distribution or as platforms for DDoS attacks, such as those that many online bookies have suffered in recent months. By using compromised machines - instead of open mail relays or unscrupulous hosts - spammers can bypass IP address blacklists.

Phatbot was been used to spam, steal information or perform DDoS attacks, according to Mikko Hyppönen, director of anti-virus research at F-Secure. "You could do anything you wanted with it," he said. Phatbot is a variant of Agobot, a big family of IRC bots. Hyppönen said people were selling tailor-made versions of the bot for various illegal purposes.

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