Countermeasures by botnet operators would include moderating their take, perhaps only stealing 10% of the productive capacity of invaded computers, so that their owners would be unlikely to notice. This kind of thinking quickly degenerates into unreliable speculation, but it points out the difficulties of analyzing the full ramifications of a world where POW tokens are valuble.
Some people tell me that the 0wned machines are among the most secure on the network because botnet operators work hard to keep others from compromising “their” machines. I could see the operators moving toward being legitimate security firms, protecting computers against compromise in exchange for some of the proof of work (POW) money.
Cheers - Bill
