What's it all a bot?
- Published: 20 Jan 2013 at 00.00
- Newspaper section: News
BOTNET: A contraction of the term ''robot network''. A botnet, aka a zombie army, is a collection of computers that a hacker can remotely control after they have been infected with some form of malware. Some botnets have been estimated to comprise up to 30 million PCs, although these numbers are notoriously difficult to calculate.
BOTMASTER: The hacker (or more often group of hackers) that controls a botnet. Hackers of sufficient skill can write their own software to infect computers, but such malicious software can also be bought off the shelf.
WEB INJECTS: Rogue code inserted into web pages that can be used to steal confidential information, for example capturing usernames and passwords, or to redirect visitors to fake or malicious sites without their knowledge.
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