Got Bot?

The world of malware (literally bad software) has some interesting terminology. Botnets and Zombie networks sound like they should be different, but they are basically the same thing. The imagery of masses of robots (ala I Robot) or hordes of Zombies from Night of the Living dead is surprisingly a relatively accurate description. Botnets or Zombie Nets are collections of computers that have been infected with a specific class of malware that is managed by an external ‘Controller’. Ok, Zombie hordes are not easy to manage, but the robot masses are. I’ll use the term botnets to refer to both.

Botnets can be used for many different illegal purposes such as distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, mass spam mailings, illegal data collection and more. Like the domestic robots in the movie I Robot, malware bots establish themselves unobtrusively in your network through the same types of mechanisms as a virus, worm, Trojan or other malware. In fact, Trojans, malware that masquerades as legitimate software, are often used to distribute ‘Bot’ malware. That ‘swimware calendar’ program you downloaded may look nice, but underneath there may be some malware silently doing bad things to your computer.

Oh, but I use StopsAll antivirus! I should be protected. Perhaps you should, but in reality you probably are not. Honest antivirus vendors are starting to admit that stopping the hordes of malware invading the Internet is virtually impossible. The producers of malware can crank them out faster than the AV companies can discover and create signatures for them. Usually you’ve been infected for days before the AV companies can discover the cure. So called ‘zero day’ attacks take advantage of the time lag between discovery and the cure to hide malware in your systems and do their work before they are neutralized.

So how do you avoid getting bot? A good start is by avoiding the muddy backwaters of the Internet. Going off exploring can sometimes get you more than you bargained for. Don’t click on that link that came in your email. If your friends ‘got bot’, they will want to share it with you and what better way than to send you an email from their email account with an appealing link to click. Be aware of your computer. If things are taking a little longer than they did before, there is usually a reason. Keep your antivirus software up to date. Run full scans at least weekly. Lastly, when in doubt call a professional. We at PathMaker Group have the tools and knowledge to detect and clean your systems as well as determine what may have been stolen by that last infection.