The close of 2008 sounded the death knell for some of the most notorious spam networks on the planet. But already several new breeds of spam botnets — massive groups of hacked PCs used for spamming — have risen from the ashes, employing a mix of old and new tricks to all but ensure a steady flow of spam into e-mail boxes everywhere for many months to come.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2009/01/meet_the_new_bots_will_we_get.html
Meet the New Bots: Will We Get Fooled Again?
The close of 2008 sounded the death knell for some of the most notorious spam networks on the planet. But already several new breeds of spam botnets — massive groups of hacked PCs used for spamming — have risen from the ashes, employing a mix of old and new tricks to all but ensure a steady flow of spam into e-mail boxes everywhere for many months to come.