computer science

Grum botnet

Grum botnet is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Grum botnet rather than just read about it. In short: The Grum botnet, also known by its alias Tedroo and Reddyb, was a botnet mostly involved in sending pharmaceutical spam e-mails. Once the world's largest botnet, Grum can be traced back to as early as 2008.

Key takeaways

Grum botnet belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Grum botnet to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Grum botnet from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Grum botnet, also known by its alias Tedroo and Reddyb, was a botnet mostly involved in sending pharmaceutical spam e-mails. Once the world's largest botnet, Grum can be traced back to as early as 2008. At the time of its shutdown in July 2012, Grum was reportedly the world's third largest botnet, responsible for 18% of worldwide spam traffic. Grum relies on two types of control servers for its operation. One type is used to push configuration updates to the infected computers, and the other is used to tell the botnet what spam emails to send. In July 2010, the Grum botnet consisted of an estimated 560,000–840,000 computers infected with the Grum rootkit. The botnet alone delivered about 39.9 billion spam messages in March 2010, equating to approximately 26% of the total global spam volume, temporarily making it the world's then-largest botnet. Late in 2010, the botnet seemed to be growing, as its output increased roughly by 51% in comparison to its output in 2009 and early 2010. It used a panel written in PHP to control the botnet.

Botnet takedown In July 2012, a malware intelligence company published an analysis of the botnet's command and control servers located in the Netherlands, Panama, and Russia. It was later reported that the Dutch Colo/ISP soon after seized two secondary servers responsible for sending spam instructions after their existence was made public. Within one day, the Panamanian ISP hosting one of Grum's primary servers followed suit and shut down their server. The cybercriminals behind Grum quickly responded by sending instructions through six newly established servers in Ukraine. FireEye connected with Spamhaus, CERT-GIB, and an anonymous researcher to shut down the remaining six C&C servers, officially knocking down the botnet.

Grum botnet zombie clean-up There was a sinkhole running on some of the former IP addresses of the Grumbot C&C servers. A feed from the sinkhole was processed via both Shadowserver and abusix to inform the Point of Contact at an ISP that has an infected IP addresses. ISP's are asked to contact their customers about the infections to have the malware cleaned up. Shadowserver.org will inform the users of their service once per day and Abusix sends out a X-ARF (extended version Abuse Reporting Format) report every hour.

See also Botnet Malware E-mail spam Internet crime Internet security

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Grum botnet

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Grum botnet claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Grum botnet before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Grum botnet ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Grum botnet

In research: Grum botnet appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Grum botnet in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Grum botnet is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2010s in hacking, 2012 in computing, Botnets, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Grum botnet outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Grum botnet in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Grum botnet means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Grum botnet out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Grum botnet in simple terms?

Why does Grum botnet matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Grum botnet?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Grum botnet.