Security firm warns of commercial, on-demand DDoS botnet

IMDDOS, which is mainly based in China, has grown to become one of the largest active botnets, Damballa says

Computerworld - The security firm Damballa is warning of a large and fast growing botnet created specifically to deliver distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on demand for anyone willing to pay for the service.

The IMDDOS botnet is operated out of China and has been growing at the rate of about 10,000 infected machines every day for the past several months, to become one the largest active botnets currently, Damballa says.
Gunter Ollman, vice president of research at Damballa, said that what makes IMDDOS significant is its openly commercial nature. The botnet's operators have set up a public Web site potential attackers can use to subscribe for the DDoS service, and to launch attacks against targets.

The site offers various subscription plans and attack options, and provides tips on how the service can be used to launch effective DDoS attacks. It even provides customers with contact information for support and customer service.
Anyone with knowledge of Chinese can essentially subscribe to the service and use it to initiate DDoS attacks against targets of their choice, anywhere around the globe and with next to no effort, Ollman said.