Botnets are big business for malware and virus writers, with the ability to serve payloads of infected software and commandeer machines to use as spam emailers, it’s become difficult for normal computers users to identify and remove these threats.
Because different variations of botnets crop up everyday, virus scanners are finding it increasingly difficult to scan and identify these infected files. Sometimes the only way you can tell if you have such a thing on your machine is to notice random processes running in the Windows Task Manager or looking for abnormal levels of outbound internet traffic.
Luckily, security firms and software developers are trying to level the war on botnets. This article will list 5 tools that can aid you in your quest to hunt out potential security threats.
1. RUBotted
RUBotted monitors your computer for suspicious activities and regularly checks with an online service to identify behavior associated with Bots. Upon discovering a potential infection, RUBotted will prompt you to scan your computer with their webbased HouseCall service, but you can also use your own antivirus scanner.
2. Spybot Search and Destroy
Spybot Search and Destroy is a program that scans your computer for spyware, adware, trojans and potential botnets. Updates are pushed to the program regularly meaning you can be sure that the most recent definitions will be able to detect the latest threats.
3. Bothunter
BotHunter is an application designed to track the two-way communication flows between internal assets and external entities, developing an evidence trail of data exchanges that match a state-based infection sequence model. This allows the program to identify if a botnet is contacting it’s creator’s server possibly looking for new instructions.
4. Microsoft Malicious Software Tool
The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool checks Windows installations for infections by specific, prevalent malicious software—including Blaster, Sasser, and Mydoom—and helps remove any theats found. When the scan is complete, you are given information on how to remove these infections. An update to this tool is released every second Tuesday of every month.
Conclusion
Botnets are becoming increasingly difficult to identify and remove and in most cases users will not know they have been infected. The rule to employ when looking to stop a botnet is to increase your prevention methods, like employing a firewall, an up to date virus scanner and making sure you don’t open programs you don’t trust.
These methods will potentially stop you giving your details to hackers, giving you peace of mind in the process.
