More than 1 million computers on the Internet have been hijacked to attack websites and pump out spam and viruses. The huge number was revealed by security researchers who have spent months tracking more than 100 networks of remotely controlled machines. The largest network of so-called "zombie" networks spied on by the team was made up of 50,000 hijacked home computers.

The detailed look at zombie or 'bot nets of hijacked computers was done by the Honeynet Project-a group of security researchers.../

To gather its information the German arm of the honeynet Project created software tools to log what happened to the machines they put on the Web. Getting the machines hijacked was "worryingly easy". The longest time a Honeynet machine survived without being found by an automatic attack tool was only a few minutes. The shortest time was only a few seconds.

Criminals also seem to be starting to use 'bot nets for mass identity theft, to host websites that look like those of banks so confidential information can be gathered and to peep into online traffic to steal sensitive data.

"Leveraging the power of several thousand bots, it is viable to take down almost any website or network instantly", said the researchers. "Even in UNSKILLED HANDS, it should be obvious that 'bot nets are a loaded and powerful weapon."

To read the entire report from The Honeynet Project, Click Here.