Microsoft recently brought down the Zeus GameOver BotNet with the help of the FBI. Nonetheless this did not stop the virus from being copied and modified. For those who don’t know, a Botnet is a collection of connected computers which are used maliciously to spread spam usually without the owner of the computer aware of what is happening. This new threat, know as newGOZ, has recently been spotted traveling across the world infecting computers.
NewGOZ behaves differently than its predecessor Zeus GameOver in how it is delivered. This new variant uses domain generation algorithm (DGA) to find victims and send them malicious emails. These emails have also been improved to pass through auto-spam detection used by email providers.
Between July 14th and July 25th, newGOZ’s victims rose from around 127 to 8494. This is a concerning rise of computers infected by a new virus. Luckily after the 25th victims began to decline probably in response to victims removing the spam. However, newGOZ was distributed by the Cutwail Botnet, which means this may have been a trial run and another attack may be after victims banking information.
NewGOZ is a credible threat and has proven itself capable of infecting users across the globe. While most of the victims were in the US, every civilized continent was infected. Hopefully Microsoft can be ahead of the curve and bring down the Cutwail Botnet and improve their spam filters to stop newGOZ from gaining any more ground.
Have you been affected by Zeuse GameOver? What do you think of Microsoft fighting these Botnet’s?
