The Power of Botnets: Intensifying Crime, Disinformation, and Espionage

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Imagine an army of computers, acting under the instructions of a criminal syndicate, terrorist group, or foreign government. These so-called botnets can disrupt the internet’s infrastructure, facilitate theft and surveillance on a mass scale, and even sway political opinion. While many experts focus on the disruptive capabilities of botnet DDoS attacks and the disinformation campaigns they can mount, botnets can facilitate other types of malicious activity. They are probably best known for profit-motivated cybercrime via botnets-for-hire. By pilfering credentials, criminals can steal financial information, disseminate spam, and deploy ransomware to extort money from businesses around the world. Spies also commonly leverage criminal botnets to facilitate intelligence collection efforts. An expert says, “identifying a bot is hard, almost impossible, but identifying humans is still possible. If you are able to identify human behavior, then you are able to block any bot.”