I can see how DNS could be vandalized by a hacker, but it can't
really be abused to gain anything really valuable to a spambot
farmer, can it?
Captured and/or manipulated DNS can be used for Man-in-the-middle
attacks by a nefarious character. The client computer thinks it is
talking to its regular DNS server, but is instead talking to a
computer in between the two. At that point, the nefarious character
can direct the client to phishing/virus/intrusion websites disguised
as the expected sites.
The vulnerability which spawned the BIND patch related to knocking out
a DNS server. If a nefarious character can knock out the real DNS
server, and direct the clients to his/her own DNS server, the above
becomes trivial.
Rumor has it that an article by some guy named Pan is being published
on the topic of DNS-based MITM (in regards to wifi connections) in the
Fall issue of 2600. Look for it in your favorite newsstand or bookstore.
