Don't Be a Zombie! How to Protect Yourself From Botnets

Here's a summary of what you need to know about botnets, including how they work, the dangers, and how to avoid them.

You may have heard the word "botnet" several times these days. That's right because any device with an internet connection can become a zombie (become part of a botnet). PCs, smartphones, tablets, routers, refrigerators with Wi-Fi function, smart toys, etc.

In this article, I'll explain what a botnet is, what wrong it does, and what you can do to prevent your gadget from becoming part of the botnet.

What is a Botnet?

A botnet is a collection of Internet-connected devices infected with special malware. These infected devices are called bots (or zombies). The type of malware that bots devices quietly gains administrative privileges under the hood and gives cybercriminals control of the device. The hacked device behaves as usual, but at the same time follows orders from the botnet commander. In addition, a large number of infected devices work together to form a strong infrastructure that is used for criminal activity.

Some of the people who direct botnets specialize in supporting and expanding botnets. These people lend botnets to other criminals who commit attacks and other wrongdoing. Here are four common botnet uses.

DDoS

The most well-known use of botnets is to launch DDoS attacks. Botnets simply send excessive requests to the server to overload it, but heavily loaded servers cannot handle the requests and are unavailable to the general public.

The more internet-connected devices built into a botnet, the more powerful DDoS attacks will be. The problem is that almost any internet-connected device can be used in these attacks. Some of these devices don't seem to actually use the Internet. For example, surveillance cameras and Wi-Fi compatible printers.

There are hundreds of millions of internet-connected devices at the moment, but it will soon reach billions. Not all internet-connected devices are well protected and can become part of some botnet. Also, large botnets have the ability to engage in really bad activities. In October 2016, a DDoS attack using a botnet disrupted the operations of more than 80 major Internet services such as Twitter, Amazon, PayPal, and Netflix.

Spam

What if the spam filter doesn't work well? Needless to say, your inbox is full of spam emails. By the way, did you know that most spam attacks rely on zombies? Cybercriminals need botnets to disrupt the operations of providers and specialty agencies that try to block spam emails by blocking their emails and IP addresses.

Cybercriminals use the email account of the owner of an infected and zombied computer to send spam emails. In addition, it retrieves contact information from unauthorized emails from that account and adds it to their spam database. It's a really bad trick.

Data theft

Of course, it's not just your contact information that is stolen from a hacked device. Malware that bots (zombies) your computer may have many more features. In some cases, mobile banking and online banking passwords can be stolen, and in others, important financial data (such as credit card PINs) can be stolen by modifying the web page of the browser.

Recruiting new bots

Botnets also have the purpose of finding new vulnerable devices. It infects the devices it finds with malware such as Trojan horses and viruses. Of course, such malware also includes special malware for embedding devices in botnets.

To Protect Yourself From Infection

To reduce the risk of infection, keep the following basic rules in mind.

1. Be sure to change the default password for internet-connected devices such as routers, webcams, printers, and smart appliances to something else.

2. Be sure to install firmware upgrades and security updates for the OS and software.

3. Do not use an administrator account on your PC or laptop. Do not leave root access turned on on mobile devices. Better yet, it's safer not to use route access at all.

4. Be very careful when downloading anything from websites other than the official website. There are often cases where malicious files are spread through games and software.

5. If you download something from an untrusted site such as a torrent tracker site or P2P file sharing, check all your files with a high-performance antivirus product.

6. Install a trusted security product like Total Security and don't ignore any suspicious actions you'll be notified of, even if you're not doing a dangerous illegal activity online.