Abstract
The literature on botnet-enabled cyber-attacks and the literature on botnet takedowns have progressed independently from each other. In this research, these two literature streams are brought together. Botnet-enabled cyber-attacks and botnet takedowns are conceptualized as collective actions carried out by individuals, groups, and organizations that are linked by the Internet and club theory is used to examine the inner workings of these collective actions. This research examines five scenarios of botnet-enabled cyber-attacks and five scenarios of botnet takedowns to develop a representation of cyber-attacks and infer capabilities of four club types: Attacker, Defender, Botnet beheader, and Botnet operator. The representation developed identifies the dimensions of the three constructs of club theory: club membership size; size of the facility that club members share; and arrangements to operate, purchase/rent and grow the shared facility. Club capabilities were organized into five types: relationships, attack infrastructure, skills, learning, and others.
Highlights
A botnet is a network of infected hosts that carry out commands sent by a botmaster
The objective of this article is to develop a model for representing botnet-enabled cyber-attacks and botnet takedowns initiatives in terms of the dimensions of the three constructs used in club theory to explain collective action
These results suggest that a Type 2 (Defender) club has at least eight organizations engaged in resisting botnet-enabled cyber-attacks
Summary
The impacts of botnetenabled cyber-attacks on individuals and organizations are diverse and have necessitated a collaborative approach that leverages technical and non-technical systems to mitigate botnet-enabled cyber-attacks. Such collaborative initiatives carried out to solve botnet-related problems are costly, complex, and time consuming due to poor communication among the executives and personnel in technical, legal, security, and research functions of heterogeneous organizations, including law enforcement agencies. The intent is to improve communications, learning, and decision making among the various actors that need to come together to effectively and efficiently address botnet-related problems, accelerate theory development, and clarify the discussion about the “best-case” scenarios for the future of the online world
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