Bot nets are increasingly used to spam, install adware on victims' machines, and level denial-of-service (Ddos) attacks at online companies as part of an extortion scheme; making bot networks a major internet threat.

Earlier this year Israeli anti-spam company "Blue Security" identified a spammer using a bot net to launch massive denial-of-service attacks against it's "Blue Frog" service.

Overwhelmed, Blue Security folded and turned to non spam-related avenues for their technological developments.

An initiative undertaken by APEC, the EU's CNSA, ITU, the London Action Plan, OECD and the Seoul-Melbourne Anti-Spam group is behind an international effort to deal with spam, the "StopSpamAlliance"

The StopSpamAlliance website states it will contain content on anti-spam legislation and enforcement activities, consumer and business education plus best practices and international cooperation.

The Register