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A botnet is a group of internet-connected computers and devices that have been infected by malware that allows a malicious actor to control them remotely. The malicious actor then uses the botnet for nefarious purposes such as sending spam email, stealing data, spreading additional malware infections to other devices, generating illicit advertising revenue through click-fraud, mining cryptocurrencies, or conducting distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. In the cases where botnets are used to conduct DDoS attacks, these infected devices are used to generate an excessive amount of network traffic designed to overwhelm a website, server, or online service to the point that legitimate users cannot access it.

Since today is Halloween, this podcast is dedicated to the topic of zombies! A cyber threat intelligence analyst at the NJCCIC talks about these zombie computer armies, also known as botnets, and how they might impact your daily digital life. She also discusses the DDoS attack that took down a large portion of the internet on Friday, October 21. For more information about this or any other cybersecurity topic, please visit www.cyber.nj.gov