They are also used for spam email campaigns. Typically, these legions of computers are used in DDoS attacks, where many computers simultaneously make a connection request to a Web server, overwhelming it. So, hackers invented botnets in which each computer just attacks a target once. Defense mechanisms in cybersecurity software can read the IP address of an attacker and block it. Some botnets control hundreds of thousands of private computers, and other control IoT devices, such as security cameras.

The purpose of a botnet is to spread a task between many computers. In most cases, those companies don’t even realize that their devices are working for other people. The computers in the botnet are called “ zombies.” They aren’t entirely controlled by the hackers and continue to operate as usual. The active mechanism on the captured computer can open a connection and scan the remote server for instructions – that host is called the “ command and control” (C&C) server. During its period of operation, it attacked about 500,000 computers.Ī botnet is a group of infected computers controlled from a central server over the Internet. CryptoLocker was first spread on September 5, 2013, and it was shut down in May 2014.

How to scan for crypto locker