Podcast: Inside Microsoft's Efforts to Fight Against Botnets | SecurityWeek.Com


Inside Microsoft's Efforts to Fight Against Botnets (27:30)

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Date: November 15, 2013

By: Security Conversations

Description: In this edition of Security Conversations, Ryan Naraine is joined by Richard Boscovich , assistant general counsel in the Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit to talk about the new Microsoft Cybercrime Center and the ongoing battle to stop the proliferation of botnets around the world.

Microsoft Opens High Tech Cybercrime Center

By Mike Lennon on November 14, 2013

Microsoft said Thursday that it has opened a new cybercrime center that combines the software giant's legal and technical expertise along with cutting-edge tools and technology and cross-industry expertise to combat cyber crime.

Located at Microsoft's campus in Redmond, Washington, the center houses technologies that enable teams to visualize and identify global cyberthreats developing in real time, including SitePrint, which allows the mapping of online organized crime networks; PhotoDNA, a leading anti-child-pornography technology; cyberforensics, a new investigative capability that detects global cybercrime, including online fraud and identity theft; and cyberthreat intelligence from Microsoft’s botnet takedown operations.

Microsoft Cybercrime Center Photo
“The Microsoft Cybercrime Center is where our experts come together with customers and partners to focus on one thing: keeping people safe online," said David Finn, associate general counsel of the Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit. “By combining sophisticated tools and technology with the right skills and new perspectives, we can make the Internet safer for everyone."

The Cybercrime Center also has a secure location for third-party partners, including from academia and law enforcement, allowing cybersecurity experts from around the world to work in the facility with Microsoft’s experts for an indefinite period of time.

“With nearly 100 attorneys, investigators, technical experts and forensic analysts based around the world, the Microsoft Cybercrime Center is well positioned to make it safer for people online worldwide," Microsoft said in a statement.

“In the fight against cybercrime the public sector significantly benefits from private sector expertise, such as provided by Microsoft," said Noboru Nakatani, executive director of the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation. “The security community needs to build on its coordinated responses to keep pace with today’s cybercriminals. The Microsoft Cybercrime Center will be an important hub in accomplishing that task more effectively and proactively."

Microsoft produced the video below which explains more about the new Cybercrime Center .

Ryan is the host of the podcast series "Security Conversations - a podcast with Ryan Naraine". He is the head of Kaspersky Lab's Global Research & Analysis team in the USA and has extensive experience in computer security user education, specializing in operating system and third-party application vulnerabilities, zero-day attacks, social engineering and social networking threats. Prior to joining Kaspersky Lab, he monitored security and hacker attack trends for over 10 years, writing for eWEEK magazine and the ZDNet Zero Day blog. Follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanaraine .