What is a Botnet & How to Protect Yourself Against Botnet?

Have you ever wondered how hackers are able to fund large-scale campaigns? A vast army of computers may be needed to carry out some hostile online actions. 

 

Bad actors often do not wait for Black Friday computer sales to conduct these attacks and max out their credit cards on a shopping binge buying hundreds of PCs. They frequently use botnets instead.

 

Botnets are collections of hacked computers that are used in many types of scams and online attacks. Robots and networks are combined to generate the word "botnet." The infiltration phase of a multi-layer method is often when a botnet is put together. The bots are used to automate large-scale attacks including malware dissemination, server crashes, and data theft.

 

Without your knowledge or permission, botnets utilize your devices to disrupt normal operations or swindle other individuals. What is a botnet attack and how does it operate, you might wonder? We'll explain how botnets are created and used in order to clarify this concept of a botnet.

 

 

What is a Botnet?

 

Robots and networks are combined to form the term "botnet." An overview of botnets is provided below: A network of computers running bots and managed by a bot herder is referred to as a botnet.

 

A bot herder is a person in charge of overseeing and maintaining the botnet. Bots are software programmes that execute automatic scripts via a network.

 

A botnet, sometimes known as a "robot network," is a collection of malware-infected computers that are managed by a single attacker, also referred to as a "bot-herder." A bot is any particular machine that the bot-herder is in control of. 

 

The attacking party can control every computer in its botnet at once to execute a coordinated illegal operation from a single central location. A botnet's size (many are made up of millions of bots) allows an attacker to carry out extensive operations that would have been impossible with malware in the past. 

 

Infected devices can receive updates and alter their behavior instantly since botnets are constantly under the control of a remote attacker. Consequently, bot-herders frequently have the ability to lease access to certain areas of their botnet on

 

Typical botnet behavior includes:

 

1. Email Spam- Despite the fact that email is now considered to be an older attack vector, spam botnets are among the biggest. They are generally employed to send out massive quantities of spam communications, frequently with malware. 

 

For instance, the Cutwail botnet has a daily communication capacity of up to 74 billion. In order to add more computers to the botnet, they are also used to disseminate bots.

 

2. DDoS attacks– These attacks exploit the vast size of the botnet to flood a target network or server with requests, making it inaccessible to the users for whom it was designed. DDoS attacks target organizations with the intention of extorting money in exchange for stopping the attack or for personal or political reasons.

 

3. Financial breaches - They include botnets created intentionally to steal money from businesses and credit card data. Millions of dollars have been directly stolen from numerous businesses in very short periods of time thanks to attacks carried out by financial botnets like the ZeuS botnet.

 

4. Targeted incursions -  These are smaller botnets that are created to infiltrate a company's high-value systems in order to get access and intrude further into the network. 

 

Assailants specifically target organizations' most precious assets, including financial data, research and development, intellectual property, and consumer information, making these attacks very harmful for businesses.

 

Also Read | Phishing Vs Spoofing

 

 

How does Botnet Work?

 

Botnets are designed to expand, automate, and accelerate a hacker's capacity to execute more significant attacks.

 

A single hacker or even a small group of hackers are limited in how much they can do on their local machines. But they can get a tonne of more equipment to use for more productive activities for very little money and very little time.

 

A bot herder controls a group of abducted devices through remote commands. A herder utilizes command programming to direct the bots' subsequent actions after they have been assembled. The individual assuming command responsibilities may have created the botnet or be renting it out.

 

Each malware-infected consumer device that has been commandeered for usage in the botnet is referred to as a zombie computer, or bot. Under orders created by the bot herder, these machines work mindlessly.

 

The foundational stages of a botnet can be condensed into the following few steps:

 

1. A hacker takes advantage of a weakness to infect users with malware.

 

2. Malware that can take over a user's device has infected the user's device.

 

3. Hackers deploy compromised devices to launch assaults when they activate them.

 

Stage 1

 

Hackers discovering a flaw in a website, application, or user behavior initiates stage 1 exposure. The intention is to prepare the user for an unintentional malware exposure. Hackers frequently use flaws in software or websites' security to their advantage, or they use emails and other online messaging to spread malware.

 

Stage 2

 

When a user takes a step that compromises their device, they enter stage 2 and become infected with the botnet software. Many of these techniques either entail convincing consumers to download a certain Trojan infection through social engineering. 

 

By deploying a drive-by download after visiting an infected website, other attackers might be more aggressive. Cybercriminals ultimately manage to get past the protection of multiple users' machines, regardless of the delivery method.

 

Stage 3

 

When the hacker is prepared, stage 3 starts with each computer being taken over. All of the infected devices are grouped together by the attacker into a network of "bots" that they can control from a distance. 

 

A cybercriminal will frequently try to infect and take over tens of thousands or perhaps millions of computers. The cybercriminal can then operate as the boss of a massive “zombie network” — i.e. a fully formed and operating botnet.

 

 

Types of Botnet Attacks

 

Botnet assaults come in a variety of forms, each with unique traits. Attacks employ dial-up bots, zombie machines, spam, spyware, click fraud, and site crawling. Some of the major types of botnet attacks are :-

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Types of Botnet Attacks

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1. Botmaster

 

An individual who controls the C&C of a botnet is referred to as a botmaster. To launch distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and other forms of attacks, they can remotely carry out the botnets' operations. 

 

The botmaster often employs a variety of remote code installation techniques to install the botnets on computers. Using proxies, an IP address, or The Onion Router (Tor) Project, which functions in combination with the dark web, the botmaster hides their identity.

 

Once a key or password is entered, the bots the botmaster deploys are configured to allow the C&C to oversee them. When these keys are stolen, hackers can "jack" the botnets of their dishonest rivals and launch their own DDoS and other sorts of attacks.

 

2. Zombies

 

A zombie attack occurs when a computer connected to the internet is controlled by a hacker or malware. A Trojan horse could be used to install the bot on the target computer. As the person or malware controls the computer, it becomes "mindless," like a zombie, and performs malicious tasks.

 

3. Spamming

 

A spamming botnet, also known as a spambot, is a machine that sends spam emails to computers. These emails typically contain advertisements for pornography, bogus antivirus software, or counterfeit goods. Computer viruses could also be hidden in the emails.

 

Spammers may purchase a botnet that has already infected a large number of computers and then send spam emails in an attempt to infect devices. It is more difficult to determine where the attack originated using this method.

 

4. Spyware

 

A botnet hacker who employs spyware employs a botnet capable of automatically clicking on links for online advertising or on webpages. Because these clicks frequently generate revenue for advertisers, enterprising criminals can use spyware botnets to earn a consistent income.

 

5. Dial-up Bots

 

Dial-up bots operate by establishing connections with dial-up modems and forcing them to dial numbers. They can sever a phone line in this manner, forcing the user to change numbers. 

 

In other cases, the botnet may call a premium phone number, resulting in a high phone bill for the target user. However, as dial-up modems become less common, these types of attacks are becoming less popular.

 

6. Crawler of the Internet

 

A web crawler, also known as a web spider, is a bot that downloads and indexes website content on a search engine. The goal of this type of bot is to determine what each website is about. As a result, when necessary, that site can be matched to a searcher's query. They "crawl" the web, grabbing data from websites and organizing and categorizing it with software.

 

7. Spambots

 

Spambots harvest email addresses from websites, forums, guestbooks, chat rooms, and any other place where users enter their email addresses. The emails are then used to create accounts and send spam messages. Botnets are thought to be responsible for more than 80% of spam.

 

Also Read | What is Adware? How to protect yourself from Adware?

 

How to Protect Yourself Against Botnet

 

We recommend that your organization consider the following recommendations on how to protect yourself against botnet : 

 

1. Make sure your software is up to date

 

Every day, new viruses and malware are created, so it's critical to keep your entire system up to date to avoid botnet attacks. Many botnet attacks are designed to exploit vulnerabilities in apps or software, many of which have potentially been fixed through security updates or patches. 

 

So, make it a habit to update your software and operating system on a regular basis. You don't want to become infected with malware or other types of cybersecurity threats simply because you failed to update software.

 

2. Keep an eye on your Network

 

Keep a close eye on your network for any unusual activity. This will be far more effective if you have a better understanding of your typical traffic patterns and how everything normally behaves.

 

If possible, use analytics and data-collection solutions that can automatically detect anomalous behavior, such as botnet attacks, to monitor the network 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

 

3. Keep track of failed login attempts

 

Account takeover, or ATO, is one of the most serious threats to online businesses. Botnets are frequently used to test large numbers of stolen username/password combinations in order to gain unauthorized access to user accounts.

 

Monitoring your normal rate of failed login attempts will assist you in establishing a baseline, allowing you to set up alerts to notify you of any spikes in failed logins, which may indicate a botnet attack. Please keep in mind that "low and slow" attacks from a large number of different IP addresses may not trigger these botnet attack alerts.

 

4. Implement a sophisticated botnet detection solution

 

The best way to protect your website and web server from botnet attacks is to invest in an advanced anti-bot mitigation service, such as DataDome, which can detect botnets in real time.

 

While botnet operators are becoming increasingly adept at concealing the botnet's identity, DataDome's AI-powered solution can perform real-time behavioral analysis to detect botnet traffic and block all botnet activities before they reach your web server. Bot protection can even improve your server's initial response time.

 

Also Read | What is Spoofing?

 

Botnet attacks are extremely hazardous. Using the methods outlined above, you can put in place an effective defense against botnet and malware attacks. In general, investing in real-time anti-botnet detection software like DataDome is the best way to protect your site from botnet attacks and malware infestation.