More on botnets

Botnets in the news again -- Brian Krebs has another in-depth look at botnet, keyloggers and how the combination is being used by hackers to steal massive amounts of personal data. See "Hacking Made Easy".

Last week I wrote about FaceTime's investigation into botnets using instant messaging to steal personal information and intercept financial transactions. ReveNews posted an interview with the informer who helped crack the case. Former hacker RinCe tells how he got involved with hacking, bots and bot trading.

RinCe: Well, someone I’d known from way back sent me a random message on IM, asking me if I would swap a Paypal account for 10 credit card numbers. Obviously I didn’t have anything to give him, but I did wonder how he had so many credit card numbers. So I ask, and he simply blurts out that they’re using a script to steal online databases of CC numbers. Next thing, he’s sent me the script. They trusted me as I didn’t make a big “public” deal of dropping out of the scene at the time I got hacked.

The full interview is here.