Tech blog Daily Cup of Tech urges you not to be a solider in the botnet army. Botnets are armies of innocent computers that have fallen under the control of a criminal, who is now using them for nefarious purposes. Daily Cup of Tech recounts the story of a friend who thought he didn’t need to worry about his computer being hacked, simply because he did not keep any important information on it.
“What my friend was unaware of was what many unsavory characters like to do on the network was create a computerized zombie army to do their bidding for them. This way, they can remain hidden, keep their costs down, and keep their schemes running even when they themselves are offline. This unauthorized network of computer slaves is called a botnet.”
Criminals build botnets by infecting the computers of innocent people like yourself with viruses that allow the criminal to take control of the computer. Once the criminal has infected tens, hundreds, or even thousands of systems, he is free to send out commands at will. Each and every infected computer carries out the criminal’s instructions, which usually leads to illegal activities such as identity theft, sending out mass quantities of spam, storing illegal files, and even launching attacks against other computer systems. When the news reports on hackers taking the massive computer systems of large corporations offline, those attacks have often been perpetrated by criminals commanding massive botnets.
Botnets are very real, and very dangerous. Just because you don’t keep important information on your computer, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t protect your system from intruders. You might not fall victim to identity theft if someone manages to break in, but do you want your computer being enlisted to aid in illegal activities without your knowledge? Read “Don’t be a Solider in the Botnet Army” for a more in-depth explanation of botnets, and some excellent suggestions for keeping your computer from being enlisted.
