If you spend any time on the internet, you’ve heard of botnets. But what, exactly, is a botnet? And more importantly, how can you keep yourself and your computer safe from them? Read on for everything you need to know about botnet security.
What is Botnet Security?
Botnet Security is simply the practice of protecting your computer from being infected by a botnet.
The easiest way to understand botnets is to think of them as a network of computers that have been infected with malware. They are now working together for the benefit of a single individual or organization.
What Makes a Computer Part of a Botnet?
Botnet security begins with understanding what makes your computer vulnerable to infection.
First and foremost, computers can only be part of a botnet if they have been compromised with malware. It is the starting point. It also functions as it is impossible to become part of a botnet if you do protect against all forms of attack. Of course, this is easier said than done, which leads us to our second point:
For many reasons, malware can infect your computer and remain undetected. The longer the infection persists, the more advanced it can become. In many cases, even antivirus software will not be able to detect such an infection. This makes it imperative that you proactively protect yourself against the possibility of such an attack.
If you want to avoid becoming part of a botnet, all you have to do is keep your computer safe from attack. Also, you need to make sure that you update your antivirus software regularly.
The thing about botnets is that they don’t do anything useful on their own; all they do is spread spam and steal information from unwary victims. The “bot” component in “botnet” causes the problem.
It happens without actual computers working together in one place, there wouldn’t be any botnets to worry about! So just make sure you’re safe from attack and stay vigilant about applying updates and avoiding suspicious websites, and you should be good.
How do Botnets Work?
Bots have become an increasingly common feature in malicious software, as discussed elsewhere. These days, most malware will attempt to install itself as soon as possible after being installed on your computer. It is to ensure its presence isn’t detected.
At the same time, it gains access to more resources on your system. These include such as information about banking sites or social media accounts).
What Are Some Common Types of Botnets?
Botnets come in many different shapes and sizes, but there are some common types that you should be aware of:
- Banking Trojans
As their name implies, banking Trojans’ main purpose is to steal banking information. They can either steal your login information for various sites or directly modify your bank account to steal money from it. Banking trojans do often install by other malware. Thus, it ensures you do get protected against attacks!
- Spambots
These types of bots are the ones that send out official-looking emails to a large number of people, trying to trick them into clicking on a link or opening an attachment that installs malicious software onto their systems. Spambots are responsible for an incredible amount of internet traffic, and they occupy millions of computers at any given time. the·
- Mining Bots
While a normal botnet is used to do a single job, like sending out spam or stealing information, a mining botnet is different. Mining botnets use your computer’s processing power. This is to mine for cryptocurrency, which can exchange for actual money. If you’re not familiar with cryptocurrency, it is an online currency stored in a virtual wallet and you can use it just like real money.
- DDoS Bots
According to the FBI, DDoS attacks have risen in recent years. A denial of service attack, or DDoS attack, attempts to make an online service unavailable by overloading it with traffic from multiple sources.