Jason Kott's Tour of the Botnet. Part One of a Three Part presentation on the rise of the TOR Botnet. Part One looks at what a Botnet is.

1. Botnet
Group 3 IT 350

2. Definitions

Bot
−
−

Short for robot
Refers to an infected computer that takes
orders and reports back (Gassen et all,
2012)
Botnet
−
A network of bots

3. 
Botmaster
−
−

Also referred to botherder
The person that controls a botnet (Gassen
et all, 2012)
C & C Server
−
Command and control server used by a
botmaster to communicate with bots
(Gassen et all, 2012)

4. Attack Methods


Infections can occur through trojans and
worms
Clicking on infected links and opening
infected email attachments can cause
infections

6. Vulnerabilities



Keeping all software, including OS, patched
and up to date is the best defense
At first attacks were only successful on
weak systems
Now malware can join secure computers to
botnets
–
Many times antivirus software is unaware of
the infection

7. The Extent of the Damage




It is estimated that hundreds of millions of
computers are members of botnets
(Greengard, 2012)
Most of the time the user is unaware of the
infection
These botnets are being used to send spam
Also being used to steal identities, credit
card information, and trade secrets
(Greengard, 2012)

8. 
Attacks are primarily uses to generate
income
–

Stolen credit card numbers are worth $10700 on the black market (Gassen et all,
2012)
Attacks may also have a military or political
motive (Gassen et all, 2012)

12. References
Gassen, J, Gerhards-Padilla, E, Martini, P. (2012). Current Botnet
�Techniques and Countermeasures. PIK �Praxis der
Informationsverarbeitung und Kommunikation. Vol 35 Issue 1, p310.
Greengard, Samuel. (2012). The War Against Botnets. Communications
of the ACM. Vol 55
Issue 2, p16-18.