New Directions in Peer-to-Peer Malware

In this paper, we will examine in general the multiple generations of malware leading up to the latter category of botnets, and in specific the failures and successes in the category of hybrid/P2P botnets. We will include some thoughts on the implications for telecommunications providers in an age where anti-virus, anti-spam, intrusion prevention systems, and firewalls individually may to prevent the compromise of internal enterprise or customer systems, and how reaction capabilities must adapt to the emerging threat environment. The convergence of features in today's "smart phones" will bring this threat to hand-held devices in the same manner as historically has been seen in desktop and portable computers.