Alec Saunders SquawkBox

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Reports are emerging today that a 450,000 computer strong botnet has been built over the summer. The Shadowserver Foundation says that the number of compromised PC’s may have  expanded from 100,000 at the beginning of the summer.

According to the Internet Storm Center, an increase in  malware infected email hasn’t been infected, leading them  to believe that the increase in compromised PC’s is  either due to more experienced botnet herders getting  better at keeping control of infected machines, or an  increase in drive-by downloads.

I myself have had my anti-malware system trigger twice in  the last few weeks at two different web sites.

We talk about what a botnet is, how to avoid being ensared by one, and how these nets are being used by their creators.

Also, yesterday – just in advance of the CEDIA show — a  flood of new Blu-Ray devices was announced from Sony,  Samsung, and others.  Samsung VP Andy Griffiths has said  he figures Blu-Ray has five years left in the format.  He  also says this is the year the format will hit  mainstream.  Cognitive dissonance, I asked?  No, said the panel.  Physical media is dead.  Most of the folks on the call live in the US where video on demand, including the Amazon variant, is widely available.  Several claimed not to have rented a DVD in over a year.

On today’s conference call: Tom Orr, Dan York, Dan Rockwell, Bill Volk, Mark Hewitt, Jim Courtney, Jeanette Fisher, Sheryl Breuker, Michael Graves

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• Sony Just Can’t Stop Kicking a Dead, Dead Horse [CEDIA 2008]

 

 Squawk Box September 4 - Botnets, Blu-Ray and Amazon VOD [35:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download