Botnets

Botnet

(Also known as a zombie army)This collection of computers is controlled by the same botmaster; a collection of compromised computers that is slowly built up then unleashed as a DOS attack or used to send very large quantities of spam.

Zombie

(Also sometimes called a bot) is a computer that a remote attacker has accessed and set up to forward transmissions (including spam and viruses) to other computers on the Internet.

Bot

(Short for "robot") is a piece of software designed to complete a minor but repetitive task automatically or on command,

Botmaster

A malicious hacker who controls a botnet.

DOS Attack

The computers that form a botnet can be programmed to redirect transmissions to a specific computer, such as a Web site that can be closed down by having to handle too much traffic or, in the case of spam distribution, too many computers.