‘Festi’ growing to become spambot heavyweight
A new botnet on the scene is already spewing out billions of spam mails each day.

A new botnet called Festi' is fast becoming one of the main spambots on the net, putting out 1.5 to three billion spam mails per day globally.
Symantec's MessageLabs Intelligence has been tracking the botnet since August, and said it now accounted for three to six per cent of global spam daily.
Festi's growth was due to an increase in the amount of spam sent from each Festi bot as well as the recruitment of new bots to the cause.
The first variant of spam it is spewing out are mails selling male enhancement pills leading to a Canadian pharmacy website. The second is aimed at selling watches and contains links to .com domains.
Symantec security researcher Daren Lewis said in a blog post: "In terms of Festi's global ranking among the botnets, Festi has become one of the spamming heavyweights."
"Currently, Festi is fifth after the giant big four' botnets: Cutwail, Bagle, Grum and Rustock (which among them account for more than 80 per cent of global spam)," he added.
Get the ITPro daily newsletter
Sign up today and you will receive a free copy of our Future Focus 2025 report - the leading guidance on AI, cybersecurity and other IT challenges as per 700+ senior executives
-
RSAC Conference day two: A focus on what attackers are doing
From quantum to AI, experts discussed how new and experimental technologies could be used by hackers to access and decrypt sensitive data
-
The IT industry’s shift to circular, low-carbon solutions
Maximize your hardware investment and reach your sustainability goals with HP’s Renew Solutions
-
Seized database helps Europol snare botnet customers in ‘Operation Endgame’ follow-up sting
News Europol has detained several people believed to be involved in a botnet operation as part of a follow-up to a major takedown last year.
-
Horabot campaign targeted businesses for more than two years before finally being discovered
News The newly-discovered Horabot botnet has attacked companies in the accounting, investment, and construction sectors in particular
-
Brand-new Emotet campaign socially engineers its way from detection
News This latest resurgence follows a three-month hiatus and tricks users into re-enabling dangerous VBA macros
-
Microsoft says “it’s just too difficult” to effectively disrupt ransomware
News The company details its new approach to combatting cyber crime as the underground industry drains $6 trillion from the global economy
-
Beating the bad bots: Six ways to identify and block spam traffic
In-depth Not all traffic is good. Learn how to prevent bad bots from overrunning your website
-
Ukraine's vigilante IT army now has a DDoS bot to automate attacks against Russia
News The 270,000-strong IT Army of Ukraine will now combine supporters' cloud infrastructure to strengthen the daily attacks against their invaders
-
Microsoft's secure VBA macro rules already being bypassed by hackers
News Recent analysis of Emotet activity has revealed a shift away from malicious Office documents to drop malware
-
Emotet infrastructure has almost doubled since resurgence was confirmed
News Researchers confirm the infrastructure has also been upgraded for a "better secured", more resilient operation