An increasing number of articles in the media discuss the growing criminal activity involving botnets. A bot is a piece of software, generally installed on a computer without user's knowledge, which either sends spam or tries to steal personal information. A botnet is a network of computers on which a bot has been installed, and is usually managed remotely. The main purpose of botnets is to use hijacked computers for fraudulent online activity; they are managed by a criminal, a group of criminals or an organised crime syndicate.
In response to this emerging threat, ENISA has prepared a study which identifies:
- roles and structures of criminal organizations for creating and controlling botnets
- online tools to identify and counter malicious code.
To get more information on botnets read the full report.