Texas is First State to Pass Anti-Botnet Bill

On June 19, Governor Rick Perry of Texas signed SB 28 into law, amending Texas' Consumer Protection Against Spyware Act to include violations against the creation or use of computer "zombies" and "botnets". A zombie is a computer that has been compromised so that it can be controlled by another person or program without the knowledge of the computer's owner. A botnet is a collection of zombies.

Computer hackers utilize zombies and botnets in order to leverage other people's computer resources to perform illegal operations, such as collecting credit card information, social security numbers and intellectual property. In addition, they use these botnets to hack into even more computers by using those zombies to perform a multitude of attacks from a variety of different sources, thereby increasing their chances of breaking through a network's security infrastructure.

"As more and more states refine their information security legislation, we're seeing an increased demand for the appropriate tools to identify these criminal acts, remediate the affected computers and forensically gather evidence to prosecute," said Tim Leehealey, CEO of AccessData Corporation. AccessData is a leading provider of computer and network investigative solutions, such as AccessData Enterprise and SilentRunner. These solutions are used by corporations, government agencies and even law enforcement to proactively detect security breaches, such as botnets, identify all affected computers and effectively remediate those security breaches, all from a central examiner computer.

Using such technology, organizations can achieve a complete 360-degree forensic view of their data from a single vendor. With powerful analytic capabilities and visibility into data both on individual computers and travelling across the network, investigators are now in a position to quickly track down the most powerful and insidious incidents perpetrated by skilled hackers. In addition, law enforcement agencies are able to use these technologies on a case by case basis as surveillance tools to investigate alleged crimes, forensically collect evidence and successfully prosecute.

SilentRunner works like a surveillance camera on a network to capture and analyze data as it travels to identify malicious activity.

• Real-time network data capture
• Advanced visualization of network traffic
• Pattern analysis
• Content analysis
• On-demand incident playback

AccessData Enterprise is used to investigate the data residing on individual computers to identify rogue processes and activities that may be taking place.

• Analyze multiple computers from a central location.
• Analyze running processes and view changes over time.
• Determine which data has been accessed and how it was accessed.
• Remediate malicious processes on all affected nodes from a central location.

About AccessData

AccessData has pioneered digital investigations for twenty years, providing the technology and training that empower law enforcement, government agencies and corporations to perform thorough computer investigations with speed and efficiency. Recognized throughout the world as an industry leader, AccessData delivers state-of-the-art computer forensic, password cracking and decryption solutions. AccessData's Forensic Toolkit and enterprise investigative solutions enable investigators and corporations to search for, analyze and forensically preserve electronic evidence for the purposes of criminal investigations, internal investigations, incident response and eDiscovery. AccessData is also a leading provider of digital forensics training and certification with its much sought after AccessData Certified Examiners (ACE) program.