When we think about online hackers and cybercrime many people
still picture a gang of bored kids hanging out in their parent's houses,
developing some nasty software and stealing some cash, but actually
it's not like that. The reality is that cybercrime is managed extremely
innovative, well-organized and extremely imaginative organizations that
perform really complex hierarchical plans in an effort to earn a
substantial
What Are Botnets
Botnets are huge volumes
of computers that are controlled by "Bot masters" and can be used by
cyber criminals in numerous ways in an effort to generate them
spectacular profits. A botnet is essentially an armada of computers from
diverse spots around the world, that are recruited with out the
awareness of their owners for attacking web sites, network equipment and
other services worldwide. Botnets are comprised of thousands of
computer systems that have been compromised by the Bot masters.You can
find hundreds of distinct botnets out there online, each controls 1000s
of computer zombies. Certain botnets may also reach numbers of tens of
millions of slaves! Every botnet is managed by a Command and Controls
server (C&C) that controls the activity of it's botnet. Command
& Control servers instruct the botnets to execute different tasks,
such as create HTML requests from websites, attack network equipment and
more.
Botnets will often be used in Distributed Denial Of Service
(DDoS) attacks around the world. This can be done by employing the
multitude processing power of the botnet to continuously execute
connection requests to web sites as well as networking gear,
consequently over-loading them with work and traffic and effectively
denying them the ability to provide service for legitimate users. As of
today the biggest DDoS campaigns are reported to attack with a power of
about Three hundred Gbps of data, powerful enough to disable even the
biggest of web sites for some time. The Command & Control
applications advanced to a point that it requires minimal technical
skill in order to run then.. The most thriving C&C applications out
there are named SpyEye and Zeus. between the two they control the vast
majority of the Command and Control industry. Here is a few of the
capabilities that Command and Control applications enable their
operators to execute over the botnet computers: Key stroke logging, Mail
Stealing, HTML password grabbing, Denial of Service attacks and more
How Computers Get Infected
1. Spam - By sending junk e-mail to Huge amounts of users containing Viruses, or links to harmful web sites.
2. Browser vulnerabilities and drive-by-downloads.
3. Torrents - Malware is often hidden in torrents downloaded by the users.
4. Phishing - Phishing happens when a user is tricked into thinking that he's in a site he trusts, but instead he's in a site managed by the cybercrime organizations.
5. Sometimes hackers manage to hack into legit sites and change some files with viruses.
2. Browser vulnerabilities and drive-by-downloads.
3. Torrents - Malware is often hidden in torrents downloaded by the users.
4. Phishing - Phishing happens when a user is tricked into thinking that he's in a site he trusts, but instead he's in a site managed by the cybercrime organizations.
5. Sometimes hackers manage to hack into legit sites and change some files with viruses.
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