Botnet

A network of zombie computers

A botnet is a network of compromised systems infected with bots or backdoors, which can be controlled centrally by a botherder.

These networks are built up by campaigns of spammed-out trojans or worms and are used for malicious purposes, usually for financial gain. As well as expanding the botnet by sending out malicious code to infect new victims, the botnet can be used to send spam, host or visit websites, and even join forces in massive DDoS attacks, all of which can be profitable for the botherder.

Poll

Will the current banking crisis lead to an increase in phishing attacks?

Leave a comment
View 1 comment

VB100 certification

VB's testing team put 24 anti-malware products to the test on the server version of Microsoft's latest iteration of the Windows platform: Windows Server 2008. John Hawes has all the details on which products managed to secure a VB100 award and which need have a little more work to do.
See full results.

Virus Bulletin currently has 138,652 registered users.

Fighting malware and spam

Botnet

Related news articles

See also