"Blockchain Contracts to Build Botnets"

Blockchain is a decentralized ledger technology that protects the integrity of transactions through digital signatures. Those who have looked into cryptocurrencies will be familiar with blockchain technology. The technology has been discussed in regard to its use for securing digital voting and governance systems and corporate contracts. However, like any other technology, there are ways malicious actors could abuse it to spread and implement malware. Botnets secretly recruit thousands of computers, often through phishing and malware attacks, to benefit a central entity, which is the bot commander. The commander could then use the botnet to execute Distributed Denial-of-Service attacks (DDoS) against other systems. A botnet can also be used to distribute spam, host criminal websites, and conduct other malicious activities, such as spreading additional malware and performing phishing attacks. Security experts can often identify botnet activity using the central command machine's Internet addresses or the bots' activity within the network. A new study by Omar Alibrahim of Kuwait University in Safat, Kuwait and Majid Malaika of omProtect LLC in Washington DC, USA, shows how blockchain technology and smart contracts could be abused to create a distributed network of computers. This type of network, which lacks a central server, could be used to build a botnet for attacking and hacking other online resources. The researchers' Proof of Concept (POC) warns those who run potentially vulnerable computer systems to be on the lookout for a new type of attack from bot contracts or botracts. They emphasized that commands added into a blockchain-based smart contract cannot be removed or modified, thus making a botract highly resilient to any attempts by security experts to disarm it. This article continues to discuss the concept of blockchain technology and the researchers' demonstration of how blockchain contracts could be used to build botnets. 

Inderscience reports "Blockchain Contracts to Build Botnets"