Uses of bots Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks Spamming
{"Image DocumentName": "Uses of bots Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks Spamming", "Image ImageDescription": "Sniffing traffic. Keylogging. Spreading new malware. Installing advertisement add-ons and browser helper objects (BHOs) Attacking Internet Relay Chat (IRC) networks. Manipulating online polls/games. [HONE05] lists the following uses of bots: \u2022 Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks: A DDoS attack is an attack on. a computer system or network that causes a loss of service to users. We examine. DDoS attacks in Section \u2022 Spamming: With the help of a botnet and thousands of bots, an attacker is able. to send massive amounts of bulk  (spam). \u2022 Sniffing traffic: Bots can also use a packet sniffer to watch for interesting cleartext. data passing by a compromised machine. The sniffers are mostly used to. retrieve sensitive information like usernames and passwords. \u2022 Keylogging: If the compromised machine uses encrypted communication. channels (e.g., HTTPS or POP3S), then just sniffing the network packets on. the victim\u2019s computer is useless because the appropriate key to decrypt the. packets is missing. But by using a keylogger, which captures keystrokes on the. infected machine, an attacker can retrieve sensitive information. \u2022 Spreading new malware: Botnets are used to spread new bots. This is very. easy since all bots implement mechanisms to download and execute a file via. HTTP or FTP. A botnet with 10,000 hosts that acts as the start base for a. worm or mail virus allows very fast spreading and thus causes more harm. \u2022 Installing advertisement add-ons and browser helper objects (BHOs): Botnets. can also be used to gain financial advantages. This works by setting up a fake. Web site with some advertisements: The operator of this Web site negotiates a. deal with some hosting companies that pay for clicks on ads. With the help of. a botnet, these clicks can be automated so that instantly a few thousand bots. click on the pop-ups. This process can be further enhanced if the bot hijacks. the start-page of a compromised machine so that the clicks are executed. each time the victim uses the browser. \u2022 Attacking IRC chat networks: Botnets are also used for attacks against. Internet Relay Chat (IRC) networks. Popular among attackers is the so-called. clone attack: In this kind of attack, the controller orders each bot to connect. a large number of clones to the victim IRC network. The victim is flooded by. service requests from thousands of bots or thousands of channel-joins by these. cloned bots. In this way, the victim IRC network is brought down, similar to a. DDoS attack. \u2022 Manipulating online polls/games: Online polls/games are getting more and. more attention and it is rather easy to manipulate them with botnets. Since. every bot has a distinct IP address, every vote will have the same credibility as. a vote cast by a real person. Online games can be manipulated in a similar way.", "Image XResolution": "37", "Image YResolution": "37", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Centimeter", "Image Software": "SlidePlayer", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered"}