What Is Botnet? How To Remove Botnet Malware From PC

Malware or vindictive PC code has been around in some shape or other for more than 40 years, however the utilization of malware to take control of a gathering of PCs that are then sorted out into something many refer to as a botnet is progressively a twenty-first century wonder. Botnets have been in charge of probably the most expensive security incidents experienced amid the most recent 10 years, so a considerable effort goes into defeating botnet malware and, when conceivable, closing or shutting botnets down.

What is Botnet? How dangerous is it?

The word botnet is derived from two different words: bot and net. Bot is short for robot, a name we some of the time provide for a PC that is tainted by malevolent/malicious software. Net originates from network, a group of system that are connected together. A botnet is a network of bargained PCs under the control of a malicious performer. Every individual gadget in a botnet is alluded to as a bot. A bot is framed when a PC gets contaminated with malware that empowers third party control. Bots are otherwise called "zombie PCs" because of their capacity to work under remote bearing without their owner’s knowledge. The attackers that control botnets are alluded to as "bot herders" or "bot aces."

Individuals who compose and work malware can't manually log onto each PC they have tainted, rather they utilize botnets to deal with an expansive number of contaminated system, and do it naturally or automatically. A botnet is a network of tainted PCs, where the network is utilized by the malware to spread.

The modern botnet is a standout amongst the most effective attack technique accessible to the present cybercriminal. Reasonably, a botnet is a gathering of traded off workstations circulated over the general population web that use the undiscovered handling energy of a large number of endpoints, more often than not to fulfill a malignant agenda.

Each of these endpoints or 'bots' regularly interface back to a charge and control (C&C) server and the entire botnet can be utilized to control gigantic DDoS (distributed denial of services) attacks, and in addition attempt information burglary/misrepresentation or spam-promoting on a mass scale.

Due to their sheer size and the trouble engaged with recognizing them, botnets can work under the radar for long stretches of them. For instance, the Zeus botnet worked for more than three years in this mold, netting the culprits an expected $70 million in stolen funds before the FBI captured more than 100 people in 2010.

Also Read: How to get rid from Cleanserp.net Virus? 

Example: Zeus Botnet

Zeus Virus (Trojan) is also known as Zbot Trojan. It is an influential and silently operating Trojan horse which uses its malicious functions to steal sensitive, personally identifiable information and banking credentials.

Zeus malware Trojan horse virus is spread on a large scale through the RIG Exploit Kit. That new version is dubbed as “Chthonic” and it is first emerged a couple of years ago, when it hits more than 150 banks all over the world. That activity is still ongoing, although the Trojan is also used for the distribution of ransomware. The malware has had many names over the years, and a very notable one is Zbot. After infection, it will display an alert about the system update and security pop up. While, whenever it offers to scan your computer and provide you with the tech support number to claim to help fix the problem, do not trust them. As a matter of fact, the alert is not real and the problems you are informed do not exist at all. 

Threat summary:

Name: Zeus virus

Type: Backdoor Trojan

Danger level- High. “Windows detected ZEUS virus pop-up” will display frightening notes.

Symptoms: unexpected appearance of unauthorized software on your drive.

Distributed methods: Infected .exe files, programs bundles, email attachments, malicious websites.

Detections of Botnet Malware:

Botnet identification can be troublesome, as bots are designed to work without user’s permission. Nonetheless, there are some basic signs that a PC might be contaminated with a botnet infection (recorded beneath). While these side effects are frequently demonstrative of bot contaminations, some can also be indications of malware diseases or system issues and ought not be taken as a beyond any doubt sign that a PC is tainted with a bot.

1. IRC traffic (botnets and bot aces utilize IRC for correspondences)
2. Association endeavors with known C&C servers
3. Different machines on a network making identical DNS asks
4. High friendly SMTP traffic (because of sending spam)
5. Surprising popups (because of clickfraud action)
6. Slowing your system/high CPU utilization.
7. Spikes in traffic, particularly Port 6667 (utilized for IRC), Port 25 (utilized as a part of email spamming), and Port 1080 (utilized as a substitute servers)
8. Outbound messages (email, online networking, texts, and so forth) that weren't sent by the users.
9. Issues with Internet access

Botnet Malware– methods of spreading on your system.

1. Fake Scanning: It installs a duplicate scanning program which automatically runs false scan and displays fictitious threats.
2. Program bundles- Free programs or programs downloaded from torrent or online storage sites are often the carriers for different adware, virus or Trojans.
3. Email attachments- Victims are first targeted with an email containing a malicious word file as an attachment. When the attachment is opened, it triggers an executable. Be careful of that file extension – a file should end with .exe only if it is a program or an installer either one of them. Invoice.exe is definitely not a work-related file, instead it is a virus or a Trojan that is made to look like one.
4. Another unique feature of this MALWARE is, its use of a hidden Virtual Network Computing (VNC) process in the memory that allows attackers to remotely monitor victims without being noticed.
5. Pop-up Ads- If you are tempted with the Ads that show up on your PC and if you mistakenly click them, it could be an entry point for such malware.
6. Drive-by downloads happen when the hackers are able to corrupt legitimate websites, inserting their malicious code into a website that the user trusts.

Also read: How To Remove OneSafe PC Cleaner From Your Computer Easily?

How can you find out that your computer is part of a botnet? Does it have any impact on system performance?

1. It sends spam or make queries to overload a website. You may feel when you have less bandwidth to use for the internet.
2. User may receive error ‘Internet Explorer could not display the page’ when attempting to access certain websites.
3. Your computer will run slow than the usual.
4. Access to security related websites is blocked.
5. You will get redirect to other web pages other than the one you don’t want to visit as it makes backdoor open for other online threats.
6. Your system will freeze, hangs or unresponsive.
7. You will receive annoying web browser pop-up messages.
8. Unwanted toolbar appears at the top of your browser.

Tips to Prevent Botnet Malware from Infecting Your System: