How to Create a Botnet Network
Botnets are an increasingly common type of malware that is designed to control and automate a range of cyber attacks. They are usually created by cybercriminals for one of many reasons. They can be used to sabotage services, steal data or even mine for cryptocurrency.
The first botnet was launched in 2001 by Khan C. Smith, a spammer who built up an army of bots to generate millions of spam messages. Today, cybercriminals use botnets for everything from DDoS attacks to password cracking and phishing campaigns.
Step 1: Create a Botnet Network
The basic botnet model involves malware that infects computers and other devices and then automatically sends commands to the C&C server that controls the botnet. The command can be as simple as sending an email or as complicated as taking commands from IRC channels.
Step 2: Control Bots remotely
The bot herder (the cybercriminal who controls the botnet) can control all of the bots in a botnet from a central location. This allows them to perform a wide variety of malicious actions on the infected devices from a single point, including data theft, sabotage of servers, generating spam emails, and DDoS attacks.
The most recent botnet models are more decentralized than the traditional client-server model, allowing hackers to avoid detection and single points of failure. These newer botnets operate over P2P networks, where infected machines are programmed to search for other infected devices. They then communicate and share updated commands or the latest versions of their malware.