The Botnet Threat: How Botnets Are Used by Cybercriminals

Botnet Battle Infographic View infographic: Botnet Battle

As long as the Internet continues to breakout with cracks and snags, cybercriminals will be always be busy crafting, reinventing, and executing attacks. Cyber threats are no longer just limited to the user’s visibility and many surreptitious tactics can be conducted for long periods of time, often leaving little or no trace at all. It’s tiresome enough to deal with technical glitches, let alone network failures, but dealing with a stockpile of botnets, or a collection of compromised, remotely-controlled computers, can unleash heaps of trouble on you and affected machines all around the world.  

[Read: The Reality of Browser-Based Botnets]

The problem with dealing with botnets and command-and-control (C&C) servers is that they are rather versatile resources that can be used for spamming, mass downloads and launching distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS). Botnets can also exist without a C & C server by using peer-to-peer (P2P) architecture and other management channels instead where commands are transferred from one bot to another. Additionally, botnets can also be used to mine bitcoins, intercept any data in transit, send logs that contain sensitive user information to the botnet master and consume the user’s machine resources.

[More: Botnets Are Everywhere - See How They Spread in the Trend Micro Global Botnet Map]

It’s important to respond promptly to botnets as they are becoming more widespread and resilient. For now, the best way to prevent this attack is to understand the risks involved and use security software that zeroes-in on botnet activity. Read our infographic Botnet Battle to see what they do and how you can protect yourself from these types of threats.

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Botnet Battle Infographic

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