What is a botnet attack?

Question

I'm asking this because Norton had sent me an email asking me to buy their new antibot real time protection system. And if you already have anti-virus and spyware protection, is this really necessary?

Answer 1

A botnet (also known as a zombie army) is a number of Internet computers that, although their owners are unaware of it, have been set up to forward transmissions (including spam or viruses) to other computers on the Internet. Any such computer is referred to as a zombie - in effect, a computer "robot" or "bot" that serves the wishes of some master spam or virus originator. Most computers compromised in this way are home-based. According to a report from Russian-based Kapersky Labs, botnets -- not spam, viruses, or worms -- currently pose the biggest threat to the Internet. A report from Symantec came to a similar conclusion.

http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci1030284,00.html



Botnet. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.



Botnet is a jargon term for a collection of software robots, or bots, which run autonomously. This can also refer to the network of computers using distributed computing software.



While the term "botnet" can be used to refer to any group of bots, such as IRC bots, the word is generally used to refer to a collection of compromised computers (called zombie computers) running programs, usually referred to as worms, Trojan horses, or backdoors, under a common command and control infrastructure. A botnet's originator (aka "bot herder") can control the group remotely, usually through a means such as IRC, and usually for nefarious purposes. Individual programs manifest as IRC "bots". Often the command and control takes place via an IRC server or a specific channel on a public IRC network. A bot typically runs hidden, and complies with the RFC 1459 (IRC) standard. Generally, the perpetrator of the botnet has compromised a series of systems using various tools (exploits, buffer overflows, as well as others; see also RPC). Newer bots can automatically scan their environment and propagate themselves using vulnerabilities and weak passwords. Generally, the more vulnerabilities a bot can scan and propagate through, the more valuable it becomes to a botnet controller community.



Botnets have become a significant part of the Internet, albeit increasingly hidden. Due to most conventional IRC networks taking measures and blocking access to previously-hosted botnets, controllers must now find their own servers. Often, a botnet will include a variety of connections, ranging from dial-up, ADSL and cable, and a variety of network types, including educational, corporate, government and even military networks. Sometimes, a controller will hide an IRC server installation on an educational or corporate site, where high-speed connections can support a large number of other bots. Exploitation of this method of using a bot to host other bots has proliferated only recently, as most script kiddies do not have the knowledge to take advantage of it.



Several botnets have been found and removed from the Internet. The Dutch police found a 1.5 million node botnet[1] and the Norwegian ISP Telenor disbanded a 10,000 node botnet.[2] Large coordinated international efforts to shutdown botnets have also been initiated.[3] It has been estimated that up to one quarter of all personal computers connected to the internet are part of a botnet.[4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botnet

Answer 2

No, it's not necessary. A "botnet" attack is also known as a Denial of Service attack or DoS. What happens is zombies, aka bots, which are infected machines are all pooled together by typically some nerd group/kid. The amount of machines they control could be hundreds or even thousands. What their intended purpose is, is to overload a computer or a server with so much data, that it causes it to shutdown.



What the botnet protection is, is a way to monitor your computer to make sure you're not part of these zombies. Is it useful? Perhaps. Do you really need it? I'd say no. As long as you keep your computer up to date and do regular spyware and virus scans, you should be fine. If you're overly pessimistic and cautious, spend the money. I wouldn't though.

Answer 3

Botnets are networks made up of remote-controlled computers, or “bots.” These computers have been infected with malware that allows them to be remotely controlled. Some botnets consist of hundreds of thousands — or even millions — of computers.

“Bot” is just a short word for “robot.” Like robots, software bots can be either good or evil. The word “bot” doesn’t always mean a bad piece of software, but most people refer to the type of malware when they use this word.



You can visit http://howtogee.blogspot.com/2014/03/WhatisaBotnet.html for more info.

Answer 4

not that rather. An attacker won't quickly attack your gadget, far too difficulty-free to music. they carry a non-adverse and close to invisible attack on one gadget, it is desperate as much as attack others in a matching way. After diverse machines down the line are contaminated, they launch the attack from the main distant ones. So the machines launching the assaults on you're contaminated machines, and the anybody is in simple terms as lots sufferers as you're, and then the machines are attacked destructively to conceal the lines of the source.