A botnet – short for ‘robot network’ can automatically perform activities that a human might otherwise do, only a lot more quickly and at a larger scale.

Not all bots are bad. In fact, there are different types of good ones, including search engine spiders and those used on many shopping sites to help users find the perfect product.

But there are also malicious bots – the ones used by hackers to launch attacks.

Botnets are able to infect almost any type of internet connected device, often undetected, either directly or via Wi-Fi. As the number of internet connected devices grows, there are more opportunities for botnets to attack and create more damage. Botnets are free to access entire networks once they’ve infected just one device.

These were in the headlines recently as one of the most dangerous hacking networks worldwide was stopped. The Emotet network gained access to victims’ computers via malicious email attachments, then sold it to criminals who installed more dangerous malware. Here’s the lowdown on bots and how you can protect yourself from them.

How do botnets work?

Malicious bots can sneak up on you in many ways. They can use vulnerabilities in your system – particularly if it’s running outdated software – to get in. They may also hide in software you download or receive as an email attachment.

Most commonly, botnets are used to conduct Distributed Denial-of-Service attacks (or DDoS). There are many different kinds of DDoS attack, but generally hackers will use a botnet to send a massive surge of web traffic or requests to a website, app, or server. This can cause the device to crash.

Websites that accept user-generated content (such as product reviews, comments, and so on) are often plagued by botnets. The bots create fake accounts and then attempt to bombard websites with text containing backlinks to a malware-infected site. Their goal is to boost the target site in search engines, so more people click on it and end up at risk.

Fortunately, there are some things you can do to prevent your computer from being infected:

Be careful with email attachments

Most email providers, like Gmail and Outlook, are good atfiltering out messages that look like spam or viruses. But be cautious as even if you know the sender an email is coming from, botnets could be sent on behalf of a piece of malware without the sender’s knowledge.

Be sure to look out for Botnet Trojans. These are botnets disguised as important-looking documents like invoices, bill, and receipts. If you’re not expecting a document and it’s not immediately clear what it is, think twice before you download it.

Ignore suspicious web ads and pop-ups

Botnets can lurk in web ads and pop-ups. Avoid opening these links or downloading files from the web, even if they promise you a prize or scare you with a virus-related warning.

Use multi-factor authentication

With the increasing threat of cyber-attacks, password strength cannot be relied upon as the only layer of protection. No system is ever 100% secure, but multifactor authentication is proven to lessen the likelihood of your devices being compromised.

Multi-factor authentication is important for botnet protection because even if a hacker guesses your password, an extra authentication factor will keep them at bay. This could be a pin or a fingerprint or voice. Microsoft uses the username/password combination and a security code sent to a mobile, email or authenticator app.

Make sure your software is up-to-date

New cybersecurity threats are constantly emerging, which is a challenge for IT teams to keep up with. Most antivirus providers and operating systems will offer frequent updates and patches to protect against the latest known threats. Remember that outdated programs make perfect entry ways for bots, so keep an eye out for any updates.

Carefully monitor your network

It’s important for you or your IT team to closely monitor your network for odd activity – particularly relating to website traffic. This will be much more effective if you have a better understanding of your typical traffic and how everything behaves ordinarily.

Monitoring your website traffic can help you to spot a problem quickly. If you know what to expect when your traffic hits its upper limit, you can put rate limiting into place. That means that the server will only accept as many requests as it can handle.

All devices connected to the internet are vulnerable to attack from botnets but taking some of these precautionary measures can help keep them at bay.

Having a backup and disaster recovery plan is crucial in protecting your business in the event of a cyber-attack. This is best managed by an IT support specialist which can constantly monitor for threats and remain up to date with the latest methods being used by hackers. Contact the team at Aura Technology for more information.