A botnet operator is using Google Analytics to collect additional details about his network of zombie computers.

Google Analytics offers free site visitor statistics, tracking the number individuals that visit a website and their geographic location. The service uses special HTML code embedded into a website that alerts the Google server to visitors.

In this case, however, a botnet operator has embedded the code into a variant of the Opanki virus, according to a blog posting by security firm McAfee. 

This provides the malware author with feedback on the number of infections and their locations around the world.

"The botnet owner seems concerned about not having an organised way to check the bots, like geographic distribution," wrote McAfee researcher Pedro Bueno. " How can he accomplish this in an easy way? Google Analytics."