BotNet News

A botnet is a network of compromised computers and Internet of Things (IoT) devices infected with malware and under the control of cybercriminals (also known as “bot herders”). These devices, which are typically unaware they’re participating in a botnet, allow attackers to leverage the combined computational power, bandwidth, and availability of these infected devices to carry out large-scale attacks without the device owner’s knowledge.

There are two main ways for a computer or IoT device to become part of a botnet:

One is through software exploits, firmware exploits, or malicious downloads from unsafe links or emails. Once the malware is downloaded, it can install wormable capabilities that automatically spread to other devices on the same network. Botnets can then be controlled remotely by attackers using a variety of malicious commands. These can range from launching DDoS attacks to harvesting credentials or executing CPU-intensive tasks.

Another way is through a client-server model that uses a centralized server to push instructions to infected clients, called bots. This centralized architecture has the largest drawback, as it makes bots dependent on a single C&C server and leaves them vulnerable to attack.

Signs of a possible botnet attack include unexplained data transfers, suspicious connections to unfamiliar IP addresses, and unusual network activity. Implementing good ingress and egress security practices, with robust in- and out-bound filtering to prevent unwanted traffic from entering the organization’s networks, can help mitigate this threat. A good antivirus and anti-malware solution, with real-time protection, behavioral monitoring, and threat intelligence, is also crucial.