Security firm Damballa, Inc. says the recent attacks on Google and other companies were carried out by amateurs using old botnet tools.

"The company, which offers a range of botnet protection services, released a report Tuesday based on what it said was a detailed analysis of the data surrounding the attacks, the malware that was used and the command-and-control topologies used by the perpetrators," writes Computerworld's Jaikumar Vijayan.

"[The] threat can 'best be classified as just another common botnet attack and one that is more amateur than average,' the Damballa report noted," Vijayan writes. "'The attack is most notable... for its unsophisticated design and a pedigree that points to a fast-learning but nevertheless amateur criminal botnet team,' the report said."

Click here to read the Computerworld article.