Bangalore: A botnet is a collection of inter-connected computers within networks whose security measures have been breached and is subjected to hacks. These systems are then controlled by third party malicious programmers who continuously send spam mails across different networks. A compromised device is called ‘bot’, while a network of compromised devices is called botnet. Botnet controllers direct activities from these hacked computers using standard protocols like IRC and HTTP.

Botnets around the world are hard to detect as they are controlled indirectly by hackers. Victim computers are often referred to as “bots” or “zombies” because they’re carrying out a cybercriminal’s orders without the victim’s knowledge.

As compiled by CIO, here’s a list of 9 most dangerous botnets of 2012.

#1 Festi:

Fact: Festi has infected atleast 250,000 unique IP addresses

Festi is considered to be as one of the largest spam botnets across the globe. The code consisted of an executable Trojan that infected thousands of systems across the globe. Festi primarily is directed at older versions of Windows operating systems. Festi rose to its infamousness by taking down at least 250,000 unique IP addresses.

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