The Industry Botnet Group (IBG), Obama Administration and other government partners announced new initiatives on Wednesday to fight botnets, a collection of computers whose security is compromised by attackers.
“Cybersecurity is a shared responsibility. Only when we work together will we be able to improve government cybersecurity,” said Mark Weatherford, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Under Secretary of Cybersecurity.
Four efforts were laid out today:
The FBI and Secret Service have stepped up private sector information sharing and shut down criminal botnets such as Coreflood.
Several IBG members launched the “Keep a Clean Machine” campaign to educate consumers about malicious malware.
The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) plans to create a pilot program to share information about botnet attacks this year, leading to standards that can be more widely used for information sharing on botnets outside of the financial services sector.
The IBG released a list a principles for voluntary efforts to reduce the impact of botnets in cyberspace, share cyber responsibilities and report lessons learned.
This is the first time a set of principles will encompass the entire internet.
“The principles the IBG is announcing today draw on expertise from the widest range of players, with leadership coming from across the private sector, and partnering with the government on items like education, consumer privacy and key safeguards in law enforcement,” said White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt.
Botnets pose one of the biggest risks to internet security, infecting an estimated one in ten computers in the U.S. alone.
