What is a Botnet?
A botnet is a group of hijacked Internet-connected devices infected with malware that are remotely controlled by a hacker or cybercriminal known as the “bot herder.” These devices can be used to launch Distributed Denial-of-Service attacks (DDoS), steal data, send spam and more.
Botnet Architecture
A first-generation botnet operates on a client-server model, where a command-and-control (C&C) server acts as a central point of control for the entire network. It typically uses communication protocols like Internet Relay Chat (IRC) or HTTP to transfer commands between the bots and herder.
Newer types of botnets are based on peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, which enable each infected device to act as both a C&C and a client. This makes them more resilient and resistant to termination.
The GameOver Zeus botnet, for example, used P2P to communicate among its infected devices. Security firms found that the botnet could generate as many as 10,000 new domain names every day and randomly select them to serve as communication points for its bots.
Bots may also be able to take over your computer’s CPU cycles, resulting in slow shutdowns or reboots. They may also use large amounts of your computer’s memory, consuming resources you might not even realize are being used.
If you’re unsure whether your PC is involved in a botnet, look for warning signs such as excessive RAM usage, slow application load times, and mysterious emails. These signals can indicate that your PC is being used by a malicious program and should be cleaned immediately.