Risk: Low
Thousands of US government computers may be under the control of cybercriminals. Security vendor Trend Micro has compiled a list of organisations, which includes the Department of Defense, the Navy Network Information Center, the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, Argonne National Laboratory, and the Navy Regional Data Automation Center. At the state level, its list includes the Alabama Supercomputer Network, Arkansas Department of Information Systems, Iowa Communications Network and Connecticut's Department of IT.
Although Trend Micro had intended to publicise its findings recently, some were called into question and the 60 terabytes of data that Trend Micro holds is now being re-examined.
Bots are usually installed on PCs because of human error, for instance, visiting a malicious website or opening an infected attachment and may allow attackers to gain remote access of a PC.