Russ wrote:
[div style="font-style: italic;"]dont get it. whats a bot and/ or a bot net?[/div]
A bunch of PC's that have been infected and are secretly used to send SPAM, serve up kiddie-porn, etc.
A botnet (also known as a [a href="vny!://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci213422,00.html" class="inline"]zombie[/a] army) is a number of Internet computers that, although their owners are unaware of it, have been set up to forward transmissions (including spam or viruses) to other computers on the Internet. Any such computer is referred to as a zombie - in effect, a computer "robot" or "bot" that serves the wishes of some master spam or virus originator. Most computers compromised in this way are home-based and run Windows. According to a report from Russian-based Kapersky Labs, botnets -- not spam, viruses, or worms -- currently pose the biggest threat to the Internet. A report from Symantec came to a similar conclusion. Computers that are coopted to serve in a zombie army are often those whose owners fail to provide effective firewalls and other safeguards. An increasing number of home users have high speed connections for computers that may be inadequately protected. A zombie or bot is often created through an Internet port that has been left open and through which a small [a href="vny!://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci213221,00.html" class="inline"]Trojan horse[/a] program can be left for future activation. At a certain time, the zombie army "controller" can unleash the effects of the army by sending a single command, possibly from an Internet Relay Channel ([a href="vny!://searchexchange.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid43_gci214040,00.html" class="inline"]IRC[/a]) site. [/p]
