Messagelabs are reporting that cyber criminals are assembling a million zombies into one of the largest bot-nets ever. This article speculates that the purpose will be to launch phishing attacks against consumers who are ready to shop this holiday season. Other possibilities are spreading malware or launching massive DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks. One million bots is overkill for DDoS so the phishing attacks are more likely.

Or maybe in the spirit of fall harvest (here in the Northern Hemisphere) a group of pharmers are gathering in their herds ready to distribute them to the highest bidder in chunks of 20,000 or so. Either way, prepare for more attacks, more profits for cyber criminals, and more innovation as this year’s crop cyber attacks matures.