Anti-botnet bill passed in Texas

2009-07-01

An anti-botnet bill has been passed in Texas in the last month, it has been reported, which may prevent cyber criminals from carrying out an IT intrusion.

Governor Rick Perry of Texas has signed SB 28 into law, changing the state's Consumer Protection Against Spyware Act to include violations against the creation or use of computer zombies and botnets, AccessData has revealed.

Computer hackers use zombies and botnets to gain access to others' computer resources so they can carry out illegal acts, such as collecting social security numbers, according to AccessData.

"As more and more states refine their information security legislation, we're seeing an increased demand for the appropriate tools to identify these criminal acts, remediate the affected computers and forensically gather evidence to prosecute," explained Tim Leehealey, chief executive officer of AccessData.

The company explained that botnets are also used to hack into computers by using zombies to carry out numerous attacks from various sources.

According to the recent Symantec June 2009 MessageLabs Intelligence Report, spam from botnets accounted for 83.2 per cent of all spam this month.

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