RECENT TRENDS IN BOTNET RESEARCH

ABSTRACT

With the advent of internet technology and the increased dependency on the internet to carry out financial transactions gave rise to a new generation of malware called botnets. A botnet collectively termed for a network of infected computers or bots are used to carry out various attacks on the internet community. These attacks ranges from DDOS attacks performed on an organization, spamming campaigns, to sample key logging attacks performed on general individuals. Botnets thus are a network of malware infected machines that are under the control of a single or a group of individuals called as the botmasters or botherders. The botmasters sends commands to these infected networks of bots, to which these bots gleefully respond. Botnets are becoming more elaborate and efficient over time and thus the use of botnets is growing at an exponential rate, threatening the average user and business alike.