As time progresses, hackers are trying to find better ways to pass their malicious software to other computers without being noticed. Fortunately, this is a constant battle for them due to the fact that security vendors of all types are always figuring out their plots and immediately publishing remedies. Have a look at this for some more details.

Cybercrooks are moving to new Web-based techniques to control the machines they have commandeered, popularly referred to as “zombies.” Before, they used to send orders via Internet chat services, but with that method, they ran the risk of inadvertently revealing the location of the zombies and themselves.

“All the good guys are being challenged here. (Hackers are) saying: ‘You’re spotting my traffic. I am going to try and hide it a little better,’” said Rob Fleischman, the chief technology officer at Simplicita, a Denver-based security start-up that helps Internet service providers deal with infected computers on their networks.

The change in tactics makes it harder to identify zombies on a network, and it becomes tougher for security professionals to use the hackers’ own tools to spy on them. In addition, the switch to Web-based control increases the threat of zombies to enterprises and other organizations, as that method can’t be blocked as easily as the previous technique.

“If you’re a bad guy, this is pretty good news. If you’re a good guy, I wouldn’t say it is bad news, but it is a challenge,” said Jose Nazario, a senior software engineer at Arbor Networks, which sells network analysis products. Nazario has done extensive research into zombies, the results of which he presented at last week’s Virus Bulletin conference.

Read the rest of this article HERE.

The good news is, while some black hat communities do collaborate with one another, there are a lot more white hat communities that work together to help solve malicious programming and hacking problems faster. Let’s just hope it stays that way.

Tags: Hackers, Malware