The Reign of Botnets

Introduction

I've been interested in technology since a very young age with a particular attraction to computers, even if in the late 1980s and 1990s their capabilities were limited compared to what we have today. When I finished high school, the Internet existed but was not widely available. When it came time for me to choose a major for my college application, I looked for something that would allow me to learn and work with this emerging technology. I graduated from the Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse in the South of France in 1998 with a major in electrical engineering with a specialty in computer networking and telecommunications. Armed with this unusual high-tech degree and my knowledge of network protocols and computer programming, I started my career as a network administrator for a major insurance company (Les Mutuelles du Mans Assurances – MMA) in France, overseeing and enhancing the headquarters’ network, supporting more than 5,000 users. After a few years, with my solid understanding of networks and telecommunication, I felt I needed an extra challenge. I moved to England to work as a multilingual technical support engineer for Azlan, a company later acquired by Tech Data, specializing in distributing networking equipment. Remotely helping customers configure and install their switches, routers, and firewalls was occasionally challenging. Doing so in French, English, and German and dealing with multiple regional accents made things even more interesting. Not ...