Download PDF SpringerBriefs in Cybersecurity by Sandro Gaycken

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Never before has technology outpaced the ability of mankind to find efficient policies and governance mechanisms as witnessed in cyberspace related issues. ICT revolution and the development of the World Wide Web has accelerated economic growth, brought social justice and political opportunities. It has changed the way how we see the world today and do our daily business. Democratic movements spurring up in formerly repressive regimes were supported by ICT technology. Poor regions in the developing countries have been able to trade their goods. Small and medium sized businesses in industrial countries have found markets worldwide. For all of these positive developments, the ICT has been a great enabler.

Therefore, there is no question whether the technology itself is a reason for our increasing concern about security in cyberspace, but the question should be posed how our policies will be able to set the appropriate mechanisms that would allow the fast innovation to be accompanied by required security measures.

ICT technology governance is a relatively new area. As with the dawn of first automobiles, planes or other technical innovations, people have started to use them without thinking too much on governance, safety or security. Actually, long before the safety belts were required, the autos were used for carrying military equipment, or used as basic construct for military machines. As with other technological innovations, autos and planes were used for demonstration of force for exploitation in conflict situation before there were proper rules how to use these machines safely in peacetime. Most technologies so far have found their use in

defence industry, so it happens now with ICT technology. In addition to the military dimension of ICT technology usage, we are increasingly concerned about the exploitation of cyberspace for criminal purposes.

Profits of cybercriminal organisations are considered now exceeding the total revenue of drugs trafficking. Because of wide availability of computer technology exploitation expertise and relatively easy and low-cost access to cybercrime tools, this activity is expected to grow and will become a major source of revenue for organised crime. Symantec study reveals that 73 % of people in the U.S. have experienced some type of cybercrime [1]. Although it is difficult to attain realistic data on the extent of cybercrime, many companies are suffering from ransom attacks, spam and distributed denial of service attacks on daily basis. Europol as well as law enforcement agencies are trying to produce analyses that reflect the real magnitude of cybercrime but as companies are often hiding their security breaches and cyber intrusions, it is hard to present the real data on cybercrime in statistics [2]. The most common type of cybercrime is to spread malicious programmes through Internet that would hijack the personal computers of home users or of less-protected companies and will later form a botnet infrastructure for criminal industry.

This study will address the current challenges that policy-makers face in addressing the use of cyberspace for national security and criminal purposes, with a special focus on botnet infrastructure that could be exploited for both purposes. In addition to botnets, may other methods exist to disrupt, destruct or manipulate information in the computer systems. These methods are described in the other booklets of the current Springer cyber security series.

The paper will address the issue how to fight botnets from public policy perspective and will offer analysis and possible ways ahead for the policy-making community primarily. It will highlight the complex challenges of the misuse of ICT technologies, and will offer recommendations for policy-makers to guide possible public policy responses.

Content

1. Botnets, Cybercrime and National Security
2. Botnets as a Global Challenge for Industry, Governments and Individual Computer Users
3. Botnets and Cybercrime
4. Botnets and National Security
5. National Policies and Organisational Measures to Address Cyber Threats
6. International Cooperation and Capacity Building as Cornerstone for Better Global Cybersecurity
7. Botnets: How to Fight the Ever-Growing Threat on a Technical Level
8. Botnets: The Current Situation
9. Analyzing the Threat
10. Fighting Botnets
11. Botnets: The Way Ahead

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