On the internet today it is estimated that 1 in 4 computers are part of a botnet. After observing bot activity from thousands of compromised computers, local administrator develops easy way to check for botnet activity. A botnet is a group of computers networked together and controlled by someone other than the owner of the computer. So exactly what is a boot net? Botnet is a jargon term for a collection of software robots, or bots, which run autonomously and automatically. They run on groups of "zombie" computers controlled remotely by hackers. This can also refer to the network of computers using distributed computing software.
Systems Security Administrator Rusty Crawford states, "After attempting to notify thousands of owners of automated bot activity coming from their compromised computers, it was obvious this is a growing problem and a solution was needed. The majority of the public is not even aware that their computers have been infected and are a part of botnet activity."
Botnets have become a significant part of the Internet, albeit increasingly hidden. Due to most conventional IRC networks taking measures and blocking access to previously-hosted botnets, controllers must now find their own servers. Often, a botnet will include a variety of connections, ranging from dial-up, ADSL and cable, and a variety of network types, including educational, corporate, government and even military networks. Botnetchecker.com has developed a "honeynet" to detect and analyze bot activity. As new bots are detected, they are added to the lists at botnetchecker.com. It is free to visit botnetchecker.com and just by visiting the site an IP will be cross checked for bot activity.
Sometimes, a controller will hide an IRC server installation on an educational or corporate site, where high-speed connections can support a large number of other bots. Exploitation of this method of using a bot to host other bots has proliferated only recently, as most script kiddies do not have the knowledge to take advantage of it.If botnetchecker.com detects bot activity a red warning is shown on the screen. Links are provided to information and tools that can help safely remove the offending programs from the infected computer.
Botnetchecker.com obviously does not have a list for every bot on the internet but the "honeynet" is detecting new ones all the time. Crawford recommends bookmarking and using botnetchecker.com on a regular basis. Botnetchecker.com does not block anything. It is simply a free tool to help identify if the computer IP used is, or has been, involved in botnet activities on the internet.
