A brief overview of botnet

What is a botnet?

Botnets consist of numerous connected devices, such as smartphones or IoT devices, each containing one or more botnets. Botnet owners use command-and-control (C&C) software to manipulate the network to perform various (malicious) actions that require large-scale automation. These include:

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) can cause an application to fake its death accidentally Verify compromised credential manifests (credential stuffing) Can cause account takeovers Launch Web applications, steal data Provide access to devices and network connectivity

How to Stop Botnets

There are many web security providers out there, such as Incapsule, that can help users block botnets and bot mitigation by building a database of millions of browser and bot signature variants to help accurately identify most bots.

When a new zombie variant is encountered, it is described according to the following terms:

HTTP/S header content IP and ASN messages Behavior patterns and technology fingerprints

If the new bot behaves suspiciously, it issues a series of transparent challenges, such as holding cookies and parsing JavaScript. Imperva avoids routine use of CAPTCHA to ensure minimal disruption to legitimate users.