The Kraken botnet was the world's largest botnet

Botnet

A botnet is a collection of compromised computers connected to the Internet. Termed "bots," they are generally used for malicious purposes. When a computer becomes compromised, it becomes a part of a botnet...

 . Researchers say that Kraken infected machines in at least 50 of the Fortune 500

Fortune 500

The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 U.S. closely held and public corporations as ranked by their gross revenue after adjustments made by Fortune to exclude the impact of excise taxes companies collect. The list includes publicly and...

 companies and grew to over 400,000 bots. It was estimated to send 9 billion spam messages per day. Kraken botnet malware may have been designed to evade anti-virus software, and employed techniques to stymie conventional anti-virus software.

In April 2008, Damballa released instructions for removing Kraken malware from computers and a list of IPs comprising the Kraken botnet. The list shows that on April 13, 2008, there were 495,000 computers in the Kraken botnet.

External links

• Fisher, Dennis, Kraken botnet balloons to dangerous levels, SearchSecurity.com, Apr. 7, 2008, retrieved 2008-04-07
• Orion, Egan, There's a new botnet worm on the loose: Kraken seeks to sink the Fortune 500, The Inquirer
  The Inquirer
  The Inquirer is a British technology tabloid website founded by Mike Magee after his departure from The Register in 2001. In 2006 the site was acquired by Dutch publisher Verenigde Nederlandse Uitgeverijen...
  
  , April 7, 2008, retrieved 2008-04-07
• Neri, Kraken Botnet, la Botnet mas grande del Mundo, retrieved 2008-04-07, en español
  Spanish language
  Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
  
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• Pierce, Cody, Owning Kraken Zombies, a Detailed Dissection, 2008-04-28, retrieved 2008-04-28
• Amini, Pedram, Kraken Botnet Infiltration, 2008-04-28, retrieved 2008-04-28