Maybe botnet activity hasn’t gone the way of Ruben Studdard like we thought it would, “yet another name now lost to the ages, silently fading into shadows numberless, suckled by the night sky“, but this botnet herder has. Only with nowhere near as much elegance.
When authorities arrested him at his Fairfield residence last year, our herder Gregory King exited the back door, tried to hide a laptop in the bushes of his backyard, and then answered the front door. ‘The government seized the laptop and searched it, finding “botnet software and references to King’s various online monikers.”‘ Yesterday, he agreed to a two year prison deal after pleading guilty to charges of DDoSing two web sites.

Last December, we pointed out that the Fbi’s Bot Roast II would lead to more arrests and lots of activity in cyber-law enforcement. In January, we pointed out that the ChaseNet forums’ shutdown coincided with the arrest of long-time member “Digerati” (Ryan Brett Goldstein), who was indicted as a result of the same Fbi operation at the time as 21 year old “SilenZ” (Gregory King).
While these developments expose past botnet activity and its disruption in definite terms, we also pointed out advertisements posted in underground forums by rogueware distributors looking to partner with these botnet herders, which we continue to see en masse:
“We upload adware, which in turn actively advertises antispyware! Our adware does not conflict with the botnets, or trojans, and it does not affect your own bots.”

Unfortunately, this underground and international industry is growing and evolving. Despite these arrests and drama, our Ruben will not escape suddenly into the eternal chill of crisp autumn air.