Mrs. Mecomber's Scrapbook Talking technology, computers, and the Internet… for the average computer user

Yikes. According to CNet, more than 2 million computers in the the United States host botnets! Botnets are malicious programs that infect computers. They are spread through viruses and worms, and are controlled by a “master” somewhere on the Internet. Botnets spew out spam, more viruses and worms, and phishing attacks. Computers under the control of botnets are called “zombies.”

Many times, computer users are unaware that their computers are infected. Unfortunately, these innocent parties can sometimes get in trouble with the law or their ISP for spewing out spam and other filth, even if they are unaware that their computer has been programmed by someone else. I’ve heard of people being thrown into court or paying large fines for sending spam, having filthy images on their computer, or sending out worms… totally unaware that their computer was a zombie.

You can protect your computer from botnets:

• ALWAYS install a firewall and anti-virus program– use them, and keep them updated.
• Keep your operating system updated.
• Be very careful of the websites you visit. Music and video sites are “risky” sites.
• Reformat your computer every once in a while. It’s a big project, yes, but I do it once a year or so. Not only does a reformat erase everything on the hard drive, it restores the operating system back to factory settings which makes everything faster like it was originally.
• NEVER open email attachments unless you are 100% positive you know what it is. Some bots infect email accounts, and send out mail to everyone in the contact list (including you), so a bot can disguise itself as a legitimate email from someone you know. It’s a good policy to email the sender and ask if they did indeed send an attachment before you open the attachment.

With proper security measures and clean online behavior, you can eliminate the risks of botnets.