Operation: Bot Roast is an operation by the FBI to track down bot herders, crackers, or virus coders who install malicious software on computers through the Internet without the owners' knowledge, which turns the computer into a zombie computer that then sends out spam to other computers from the compromised computer, making a botnet or network of bot infected computers. The operation was launched because the vast scale of botnet resources poses a threat to national security.^[1]

The operation was created to disrupt and disassemble bot herders. In June 2007, the FBI had identified about 1 million computers that were compromised, leading to the arrest of the persons responsible for creating the malware. In the process, owners of infected computers were notified, many of whom were unaware of the exploitation.^[1]^[2]

Some early results of the operation include charges against the following:

Robert Matthew Bentley (known as "lsdigital") of Panama City Florida, pleaded guilty to charges of computer fraud and conspiracy to commit computer fraud for using botnets to install advertising software.^[3]
Robert Alan Soloway of Seattle, Washington, pleaded guilty to charges of using botnets to send tens of millions of spam messages touting his website.^[1]
Jeanson James Ancheta pleaded guilty to controlling thousands of infected computers.^[4]
Jason Michael Downey (known as "Nessun"), founder of the IRC network Rizon, is charged with using botnets to disable other systems.^[1]
Akbot author Owen Walker (known as "AKILL") of New Zealand, was tried for various crimes and discharged by the prosecution in 2008.^[5]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "OPERATION: BOT ROAST 'Bot-herders' Charged as Part of Initiative" (Press release). Federal Bureau of Investigation. 13 June 2007. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
^ "FBI tries to fight zombie hordes". BBC News. 14 June 2007. Retrieved 20 June 2007.
^ "Hacker gets 41 months for running rogue botnet". Computer World. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
^ Goodin, Dan (13 June 2007). "FBI logs its millionth zombie address". The Register. Retrieved 26 September 2008.
^ Hedquist, Ulrika (1 April 2008). "Akill pleads guilty to all charges". Computerworld. Archived from the original on 11 April 2008.

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