[shii]

Welcome to the internet, this is pretty old news. You want to see more interesting stuff? Next time you stumble upon an owned computer, try to follow where the network stack is leading to and you'll sometimes find IRC channels with really interesting mechanics and things in them to control these computers.

[mattdeboard]

Interesting, do you know of any blog posts or articles that discusses these rooms, or more on how to do this? And I may be showing my out-of-touchness with black-hat culture, but I assume by "owned" computer, you mean one that's a botnet node?

[JonnieCache]

Tip: botnet hunting is a perfect example of something you should not learn from a set of instructions on someones blog. To do so would be a criminal sacrifice of an opportunity for joyous discovery and autodidacticism.

It's called botnet hunting for a reason. The thrill of the chase.

I'm really glad that I was 13 before the era where you could just go and get detailed instructions on every possible piece of knowledge, and before there were places like stackexchange where people scramble to answer your every question in seconds. Instead I had to spend hours days and weeks doing this stuff from scratch, and without that, I doubt if I'd be paying the rent with computers right now.

Sorry if this sounds a bit condesending, I'm just trying to help people get the maximum utility from their time skulking around in virtual alleyways chasing criminals. Surely a noble aim? ;)

[jessedhillon]

I'd say a good way to get started would be to install Windows XP on a machine, start downloading and installing pirated warez, then watch `netstat` or install Wireshark.

[ZoFreX]

I would suggest two modifications to your plan: Using a VM (easier and fairly safe, very few viruses can break out of a VM), and getting the viruses some other way (I don't see that many in pirated material). One way that works is to follow the links next time a spambot hits a large IRC channel you're in.