Botnets are a huge problem for the Internet as a whole. With millions of infected machines prepared to attack sites at any given moment, it is both difficult to find and bring down the leaders of these botnets. Perhaps one of the most challenging problems in doing so is that most of the computers infected have owners who are blissfully unaware their machines are being used in such a manner.
A new startup called Nemean Networks wants to attack the problem head on with a device that aims to help curb the botnet problem by preventing machines from getting infected in the first place. A fine goal, perhaps, but most security suites have that goal in mind anyway. The selling point that Nemean offers is automated generation of signatures, doing away with the tried and true practice of creating malware signatures manually. Their appliance creates signatures on the fly, and according to them is nearly immune to generate false positives - something nobody likes.
The product is aimed at administrators, people in control of larger networks, and is intended to warn them while still leaving it to them to stop it. The technology sounds interesting, and does ring one very true note. Manual detection of malware is an aging beast, and a more fluid process seems to be the only hope for a problem that just keeps getting bigger.