BOTS / BOTNETS

Computer bots and internet bots are essentially digitals tools and, like any tool, can be used for both good and bad.

Good bots carry out useful tasks, however, bad bots - also known as malware bots - carry risk and can be used for hacking, spamming, spying, interrupting, and compromising websites of all sizes. It is estimated that up to half of all internet traffic today is made up of computer bots carrying out certain tasks, such as automating customer service, simulating human communication on social networks, helping companies search online for content and assisting with search engine optimization.

Botnets are large networks of bots that are orchestrated by a command and control center that instructs them on specific malicious actions, such as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, API abuse, phishing scams, spam emails, ransomware, click fraud and more. A computer infected with malware or viruses can spread the bot infection to other computers to create massive botnets. In most cases, the users of these computers are not aware that their device is a part of a botnet and carrying out malicious activities.

In most cases, computers become infected and turn into botnets because of weak end-point security. This can be taken care of by having antivirus and malware programs and definitions updated and patched. Computer users should also be educated on the perils of opening unknown attachments and clicking on suspicious executables.