Ethical Hacking: Techniques, Tools, and Countermeasures, 4th Edition

Botnets and the Internet of Things

An advanced type of attack mechanism is a botnet, which consists of computers and devices that are infected with software such as that used in DDoS attacks. When enough of these systems are infected to reach a critical mass, they can be activated simultaneously to do tremendous damage. Botnets can stretch from one side of the globe to another and be used to attack a system or carry out a number of other tasks.

In the last ten years, an increasing number of devices, appliances, vehicles, and other objects, both large and small, have included network communication hardware and software that allow them to connect to networks. These newly network-capable devices are collectively known as the Internet of Things ...