Botnet - can we stop this madness?

[anatolikostis]

Just look at the graph - network total  changes every morning at europe time...

increase is about of 20%...

if this continues we will get the 60% estimated difficulty every time...

this is so bad...

Botnet attaks the bitcoin net!
What can we do?

read this - http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jun/22/lulzsec-rogue-suspected-of-bitcoin-hack

Some of the most experienced members of the Anonymous and LulzSec hacker collectives are believed to have had "botnets" – hijacked networks of PCs – of more than 100,000 compromised computers.

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[Alex Beckenham]

How is that an 'attack'? Isn't it basically just someone mining a lot of coins?

[anatolikostis]

How is that an 'attack'? Isn't it basically just someone mining a lot of coins?

it`s an attack against all honest miners!

[caveden]

How is that an 'attack'? Isn't it basically just someone mining a lot of coins?

it`s attack against all honest miners!

Not precisely, it's an attack against the owners of the infected machines.

[Grouver (BtcBalance)]

Eventually price will go up since your mining will take longer.
Mining will always be profitable.
The only that is still a issue is the 2 week reset lag it has.

[anatolikostis]

Mining will always be profitable.

if you have near the 600 Mhash...so, may be you wil be glad to see day`s earning in 6USD...at least the next 6-8 days...
but if you have only 300... just think about long term - 15-30 days...

[anatolikostis]

No, you can't stop it. A block is a block is a block, no matter how it's produced.

There's no rule that says mining should be profitable either. As a user of the Bitcoin network I couldn't care less how difficult it is to produce blocks. If people lose interest in mining, we'll still keep the same supply of blocks, since the difficulty goes down.

if the botnet goes on you will be pushed to get rid of your rig
I'm not going to continue to mine with my 2Ghash rig for 0.5-0.8btc per day in a 15 days - it`s not profitable!
but if we have 30USD per 1BTC...

[Alex Beckenham]

How is that an 'attack'? Isn't it basically just someone mining a lot of coins?

it`s attack against all honest miners!

Not precisely, it's an attack against the owners of the infected machines.

Yeah, what I meant was "How is that an attack on 'the bitcoin net'"? It's not.

[Grouver (BtcBalance)]

but if we have 30USD per 1BTC...

Exactly...

[Timo Y]

What can we do?

Not much.

Botnets are like mosquitoes. They are irritating parasites, but they're not going to kill or seriously harm anybody. No matter how many you kill, more of them will just keep coming. Eventually you just learn to live with them.

[rograz]

there are a lot more annoying things a botnet can be used for, if every single botnet in the world would only be used for mining the world would be a better place!

[TierNolan]

Yeah, what I meant was "How is that an attack on 'the bitcoin net'"? It's not.

In theory, if a single botnet/coalition of botnets gained over 50% of the network, they could start double spending.

Otherwise, they are just hardening the block chain.

[anatolikostis]

So, it seems the first registred botnet-virus has appeared 
It has been detected by russian user...Here you can read more if you speak russian - http://forums.overclockers.ru/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=395932&start=17220
Read the posts of member reesol
In a few words: AVIRA has detected this virus body, reesol has detected settings of botnet miner and reached to deppbit account with....35GHash mining power...

[minor_miner]

I've expected this a while earlier, to be honest.

[Sjalq]

An attack against "honest miners"? Is that you FDR?
It's competition in the free market, it forces efficiency and lowers prices. Fighting it with anything other than innovation is neither fair nor honest.

[minor_miner]

There's a little differance though as running a Botnet is against the will of the PC owners and probably also against law of most countries

[Sjalq]

There's a little differance though as running a Botnet is against the will of the PC owners and probably also against law of most countries

True it's a millionth of a taste though of what compition in the future will be like :-)

[zaphod]

Yeah, what I meant was "How is that an attack on 'the bitcoin net'"? It's not.

In theory, if a single botnet/coalition of botnets gained over 50% of the network, they could start double spending.

Otherwise, they are just hardening the block chain.

We know botnets can get really big if they're run by clever people.  The question I have is, if someone creates a clever botnet and turns it on once mining has become unattractive financially to those who pay their own electric bills, isn't getting over 50% pretty feasible?

[neptop]

A rogue member...is suspected...untraceable...favoured by web activists and hackers....could cost members of LulzSec and fellow collective Anonymous thousands of dollars each...drove the value of the currency down almost to zero...The idea was created in 2009 by a Japanese programmer..enerated by a mathematical algorithm after computers complete a certain number of complex calculations...Some of the most experienced members of the Anonymous and LulzSec hacker collectives are believed to have had "botnets".

Great journalism, indeed! 

[TurboK]

A rogue member...is suspected...untraceable...favoured by web activists and hackers....could cost members of LulzSec and fellow collective Anonymous thousands of dollars each...drove the value of the currency down almost to zero...The idea was created in 2009 by a Japanese programmer..enerated by a mathematical algorithm after computers complete a certain number of complex calculations...Some of the most experienced members of the Anonymous and LulzSec hacker collectives are believed to have had "botnets".

Great journalism, indeed! 

They are fearmongers, not journalists.

We know botnets can get really big if they're run by clever people.  The question I have is, if someone creates a clever botnet and turns it on once mining has become unattractive financially to those who pay their own electric bills, isn't getting over 50% pretty feasible?

If a botnet guy would get over 50% network power (which I found unfeasible since machines with decent GPU performance are usually not in the hands of computer illiterate people), they would already make so much money off it that they wouldn't even need to cheat. 1000 btc roughly every 2 weeks, that's between 10k - 20k USD depending on how the price will move after mtgox reopens.