I cringe whenever I have to look at a relative’s computer. Despite my best attempts at education, they are usually so full of malware that the only prudent course of action is to wipe them out and start over.  Invariably in three to six months, the machines are infected with a new crop of malware. I affectionately refer to it as “The Malware Cycle.”

In the upcoming years, the “Malware Cycle” is going to become critical to our nation’s cyber-defense. We as “Computer Security” professionals have figure out ways to keep Grandma’s computer malware free. Grandma’s computer is where the next generation of cyber-warfare is going to take place. Currently gianormous botnets exist.  According to the Conficker Working Group, the conficker worm has infected over 35 MILLION unique IP addresses.  Since I’m in a charitable mood today, let’s assume that 75% of the infections have been cleaned up. That leaves us with a botnet comprising of  8,750,000 computers, most of which are sitting on a cablemodem or DSL line. That’s an incredible amount of unused bandwith that can be harvested for nefarious purposes.

Most news reports attribute the control of these botnets to faceless hackers or Russian mafiosos. Ladies and Gentlemen, girls and boys watch and be amazed, you are witnessing the dawn of the state sponsored botnet. In recent news reports, North Korea is being accused of launching a massive DDOS attack on many U.S. government web sites. The estimate is that this botnet  consists 0f 50,000 computers.  Your guess is as good as mine what will happen when a rogue state obtains control of a 1,000,000+ computer botnet. When (not if) they do, it will be spectacular.

So, go be a good grandchild, have dinner at Grandma’s and clean up her computer… Again.