Design of SMS Commanded-and-Controlled and P2P-Structured Mobile Botnets

Botnets have become one of the most serious security threats to the Internet and PC users and applications. Although botnets have not yet caused major outbreaks in mobile networks, with the rapidly-growing popularity of smartphones such as Apple's iPhone, TMobile's G1, and Google's Nexus One that store more personal data and gain more capabilities than earlier generation handsets, botnets are expected to soon become a threat to smartphones. Since SMS is ubiquitous to every phone and can delay delivery for offline phones, it is a suitable medium for Command and Control (C&C). This paper describes how a mobile botnet can be built by utilizing SMS messages for C&C, and how different P2P structures can be exploited for mobile botnets.