Security Bites 112: Out of the shadows
A few weeks ago, the Dutch High Tech Crime Unit identified and arrested a 19-year-old Dutch man who allegedly was operating a botnet known as Shadow. This botnet, unlike more recent examples, used IRC, meaning its traffic was easier to trace than the Web-based command and control traffic used today by most new botnets. Shadow would infect users via Windows Live Messenger or MSN Messenger.
What's unusual here is that the crime unit then asked Kaspersky Lab to provide the identified victims, people who had unknowingly allowed their computers to become compromised, with instructions on how to neutralize the malware on their systems. While antivirus companies and law enforcement work together all the time, rarely has law enforcement been concerned about cleaning up a victim's machine.
This week CNET's Robert Vamosi spoke by phone with Roel Schouwenberg, senior antivirus researcher at Kaspersky, who happens to be based in the Netherlands, about the Shadow botnet.
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As CNET's resident security expert, Robert Vamosi has been interviewed on the BBC, CNN, MSNBC, and other outlets to share his knowledge about the latest online threats and to offer advice on personal and corporate security. Listen to his podcast at securitybites.cnet.com or e-mail Robert with your questions and comments. 
Robert Vamosi has appeared on CNN, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, and various other media outlets as an expert on computer viruses, spyware, identity theft, phishing, and other criminal activities on the Internet.
