[botnet down] Security researchers kill Kelihos @ArsTechnica

[jake262144]

116 000 immobilized zombie machines is definitely good news.

Does it come as any surprise that the bulk of the machine population were running the dated Windows XP?
Neglected, unpatched and unprotected machines are not only a risk to their owners but to the Internet as a whole.
If only the owners were technical enough to realize that...

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[cypherdoc]

that was an interesting article.  learned alot.

[SpontaneousDisorder]

Is this the one that wasn't including transaction fees?

[cypherdoc]

Is this the one that wasn't including transaction fees?

thats a good question.

[jake262144]

Is this the one that wasn't including transaction fees?

You must mean transactions, not tx fees.
I don't believe so, but the issue of not including transactions is far less serious than some give it credit for.
Mining empty blocks will at most slightly increase the time transactions take to get confirmed.

There are two larger risks botnets pose to Bitcoin:
(1) they could be employed to mount an array of disruptive attacks, possibly even the 51% attack
(2) they damage the economy creating downward pressure on the price. Unlike the honest miners, botnet operators can afford to sell their coins at $1.

[apetersson]

good find!
this was the first time i learned something new about bitcoin that came from an MSM Article and not from the community.

[cypherdoc]

Is this the one that wasn't including transaction fees?

You must mean transactions, not tx fees.
I don't believe so, but the issue of not including transactions is far less serious than some give it credit for.
Mining empty blocks will at most slightly increase the time transactions take to get confirmed.

There are two larger risks botnets pose to Bitcoin:
(1) they could be employed to mount an array of disruptive attacks, possibly even the 51% attack
(2) they damage the economy creating downward pressure on the price. Unlike the honest miners, botnet operators can afford to sell their coins at $1.

where can we look to see what % of blocks the mystery miner controls?

[jake262144]

This data can be mined out of the blockchain but I'm not aware of any project meant specifically to monitor the current situation.
BTW, doesn't the huge number of 1-tx blocks by Eligius⁽¹⁾ seem odd?

Notes:
(1) Supposedly. Blockchain.info has been known to make mistakes before.

[bitclown]

I don't believe so, but the issue of not including transactions is far less serious than some give it credit for.
Mining empty blocks will at most slightly increase the time transactions take to get confirmed.

Wouldn't thin miners facilitate 51% attacks since they will continue to build upon the last block, regardless of whether it's valid or not? With the help of the Mystery Miner's 15% network power couldn't that make a 36% attack viable?

[guruvan]

In the other thread about the solominer with 0-1 TXs blocks, there are graphs showing the temporal distribution of those blocks.

Also, re: eligius - this has been discussed, and is likely the solominer relaying blocks through them. Eligius has their actual stats posted.

I am of the growing suspicion (especially after the link to purchase "iMine" - botnet mining software) that the mystery miner is not one botnet operator, but many, using the same or similar software.