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Software Engineering vocabulary · APIs, Networking and Security

Botnet

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

/ˈbɑːtnet/nounCommon term

In software engineering, botnet means: A network of many infected computers or devices, called bots, that an attacker controls remotely and uses together, for example to send spam or run DDoS attacks.

In Turkish: bot ağı, botnet

How it is used

The bots receive orders from a command-and-control (C2) server. Many modern botnets are made of insecure IoT devices such as cameras and routers. Security news often reports botnet takedowns by police and companies.

Example sentences

  1. The DDoS traffic came from a botnet of hacked security cameras.

  2. Two of our servers were talking to a known botnet C2 address.

Common collocations

  • botnet takedown
  • IoT botnet
  • command-and-control server
  • botnet traffic
  • DDoSDistributed denial of service: an attack that floods a website or network with traffic from many machines at once so that real users cannot reach it.
  • malwareShort for 'malicious software': any program written to damage systems, steal data, spy on users or take control of a device without permission.
  • indicator of compromiseA piece of technical evidence that suggests a system may have been attacked, such as a malicious IP address, file hash or domain name.
  • threat actorA person or group responsible for a cyberattack or threat, such as a criminal gang, a state-backed group, a hacktivist or a malicious insider.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: APIs, Networking and Security

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