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What is a BOT NET?
The internet is a dangerous place these days. Not only is identity theft and fraud on the rise, but there are worms and viruses that can infect almost any computer at any time. In this article we are going to talk about one of the most serious infections on the internet today, BOT NET.
They are called bots, short for robots, because they are computer networks that have been taken over and can be controlled by malware programs. Once a computer has become infected and is under the control of an internet thief, it can be used for any number of illegal activities. Occasionally, the hacker will use your computer to attack businesses and steal financial information from internet shoppers. Then when the virtual spoor has been traced, the authorities will track down the computer owner and place him under arrest.
At that point, it will be up to the computer owner to prove that he had no knowledge of the crimes that were being committed with his personal computer. You might think that only a fool could be caught in such a predicament, but Bot Net programs are really rather sophisticated. Most of them will only start working once the user has logged off, so as not to alert the user that his computer is infected.
Like any infection, Bot Net gains access to a personal computer through a worm or a virus. Since they have inferior security systems, it is far more likely for an infection to spread to a Windows PC rather than a Mac or a Linux PC. But all computers are susceptible to these programs.
How can you prevent an infection? While no anti-viral program is 100% effective at preventing an infection, most of the top brands will keep your computer safe from these attacks. The only problem is that many folks forget or neglect to update their software, which leaves their computers wide up to the latest worms and viruses.