Have you ever heard What is a Botnet? The term botnet means robot-network. In simple words, Cybercriminals require several computers to form a powerful network, that is strong enough to perform big cyber crimes. But, they cannot afford those many computers, and even if they do, it would be easy to track them.
Therefore, they hack and use other users’ computers. There is also a chance of your computer being part of the bot network. Therefore, keep reading this article as we discuss more on What is a Botnet, how dangerous is it, how cybercriminals use it, and what you can do to prevent it.
Table of Contents
What is a Botnet Definition:
Here is the theoretical definition of Botnet. Botnets are a string of computers connected together to perform a task. Cybercriminals set up Botnets to hack other computers and accounts.
How dangerous is Botnet?
The usage of the internet has been increasing day by day. And so are cybercriminal activities. If you read the news on the internet regularly, you might know how many cyber-attacks are happening every other day. Many users think of cyber attacks as hackers trying to hack computers by sending a virus into them. But, cyberattacks also include fraud emails, spam, website hacking, account hacking, and more.
How Cybercriminals use Botnet?
Most of you may think that the hackers might have a large number of computers, and equipment to perform cyber-criminal activities. But, no, they use other users’ computers. Hackers spread different types of Malware, like a virus, trojans, or worms to random users. Whenever the users try to download content from unsafe websites, they unknowingly download the Malware as well. Once the Malware gets into the computer, the hacker can use that PC to hack other computers or networks when required.
Cybercriminals may use your PC to perform crimes like
- Financial fraud
- Malware distribution
- Identity theft
- Mailing of spam
- Storing illegal content
- and more.
Example:
This may not be the perfect example, but you will get an idea of how Botnet works by reading this example.
Suppose a Cybercriminal wants to hack a website or account. He cannot try it multiple times, because his IP address and device ID would be blocked. Therefore, he hacks a random computer first, then tries to hack that website/account by using that other computer.
Check out the article on the most notable botnet attacks.
How to prevent your computer from becoming a Botnet?
A user can identify whether his computer is infected or not by looking at the symptoms like lagging, system slowdown, and getting pop-up ads. But, the worst thing is, most users don’t even know that they are infected.
You can also check out our article on How to tell if your Computer has been Hacked.
So, here are some precautions you can take to prevent your computer from being a part of the Botnets.
- Install a Firewall
- Stop downloading pirated files from unknown sources.
- Make sure all the apps on your PC are updated.
- Install a premium (or at least free) antivirus software (which also includes Firewall). Free antivirus programs can provide you basic protection, but we recommend you get premium antivirus software for complete protection.
Conclusion on What is a Botnet:
In this article, we studied What is a Botnet Definition, and how to prevent your computer from being a part of it. The best prevention is to install premium Antivirus software and protect your computer from all kinds of Malware threats. Botnet computers are also called Zombie computers.
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