How to detect and remove botnets from your network: a best practice guide The Zeus botnet stole an estimated $70 million over three years The modern botnet is one of the most powerful attack techniques available to today’s cybercriminal. Conceptually, a botnet is a collection of compromised workstations distributed over the public internet that leverages the untapped processing power of a multitude of endpoints, usually to accomplish a malicious agenda. Each of these endpoints or 'bots' typically link back to a command & control (C&C) server and the whole botnet can be used to power huge DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks, as well as undertake data theft/fraud or spam-marketing on a mass scale. Because of their sheer size and the difficulty involved in detecting them, botnets can operate under the radar for long periods of them. As an example, the Zeus botnet operated for over three years in this fashion, netting the perpetrators an estimated $70 million i...