14 DAY TRIAL // New Zealand has cyber-security issues, as you might have known, but the fact that they got hackers attacking the US and Asia as well is something new. Their bot masters will try to get their hands on any machine they can get. The worst part about this is that these hackers are not mature thus cannot be prosecuted, according to NZ laws.
So, for you to get the basic idea - these malicious users probe the web in search of vulnerable machines. Then they target those to try and make them a part of botnets, just like the one formed by the famous Storm virus. You get inside a botnet by getting infected with a Trojan bot - this virus will most probably turn your machine into a mailer zombie. Also, botnets have a huge computing power and can launch distributed denial of service attacks. In case you haven't gotten the idea by now - a botnet is a network of bots, of infected computers.
A lot of profit can come out of a botnet, as you can either rent it to spammers or use it to wreak havoc on the web. Barry Foster who is the head of the Police e-crime lab in Auckland has stated that the bot-herders are primarily targeting academic and business systems outside of the country, in the US and Asia, as seen on ComputerWorld.
This is called the "ferret tactic" - a ferret never eats chickens from the farm he has its nest at. Why? Well, the farmer would notice it and nab him instantly. It's the same thing with hackers - they attack abroad because it's hard for authorities in other countries to net them, while in-country Police could catch them instantly. It's pretty smart, but criminal none the less. Get security measures installed on your machine, so that you won't be part of a botnet.