Stay informed on botnet trends, attacks, and defenses. Get the latest updates and expert insights on botnet threats in information security.
Search across headline titles and summaries.
Background for this topic.
A botnet is a network of internet-connected devices that have been infected by malware and are controlled by a threat actor, commonly called a "botmaster." Each compromised device, known as a "bot," is directed to perform tasks without the user's knowledge. These tasks can include launching Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, stealing data, sending spam, or executing phishing scams.
In the context of information security, botnets pose a significant threat as they can harness massive volumes of compromised devices to disrupt services, compromise data integrity, and exploit network vulnerabilities on a large scale. Protecting against botnet-related activities involves deploying security measures such as firewalls, antivirus software, intrusion detection systems (IDS), and maintaining secure and regularly updated systems to prevent devices from being turned into bots.
Weekly headline count for the current query.
Dutch authorities have announced the takedown of a botnet that enslaved millions of infected devices, including computers, tablets, smartphones, and IoT devices, to carry out malicious attacks
Dutch authorities seized 200 servers running a 17-million-device botnet linked to proxy service Asocks. Dutch authorities have taken offline a massive botnet of at least 17 million devices and seized more than 200 servers at a local provider that supported the operation. Infected devices included computers, tablets, and smartphones. The action was carried out following […]
Dutch authorities seized 200 servers running a 17-million-device botnet linked to proxy service Asocks. Dutch authorities have taken offline a massive botnet of at least 17 million devices and seized more than 200 servers at a local provider that supported the operation. Infected devices included computers, tablets, and smartphones. The action was carried out following […]
DDoS attacks are increasingly being sold like subscription services, complete with pricing tiers, support, and reseller programs. Flare explores how the DDoS-as-a-Service market has evolved from scattered tools into polished attack platforms. [...]
Dutch authorities have taken offline a massive botnet of 17 million devices and seized more than 200 servers at a local provider that supported the operation. [...]
Hosting provider pulled the plug after police traced 200 servers to the Netherlands
Developer-targeted, supply-chain attacks all the rage these days
Operators of the malicious Glassworm botnet have been targeting software developers since at least early 2025
CrowdStrike has dismantled the Glassworm botnet in an operation aided by Google and Shadowserver, stripping the operators’ access to infrastructure that helped threat actors infect hundreds of pieces of open-source software with malware since early 2025, the company said Tuesday. The coordinated effort involved the simultaneous takedown of four attacker-controlled servers that were designed to […] The post CrowdStrike disrupts Glassworm botnet that preyed on open-source supply chain appeared first on CyberScoop.
The Glassworm botnet targeting developers in software supply-chain attacks has been disrupted after researchers took down its resilient command-and-control infrastructure relying on Solana blockchain transactions and the BitTorrent DHT network. [...]
Glassworm infected developers through poisoned tools and packages until a coordinated takedown killed all four of its C2 channels at once. On May 26, 2026, at 14:00 UTC, CrowdStrike Counter Adversary Operations team, working with Google and the Shadowserver Foundation, killed all four command-and-control channels of the Glassworm botnet at the same time. The timing […]
Botnet Operators Execute First Known Exploit of Nearly Decade-Old FlawOperators behind a botnet picked up on a nearly decade-old flaw in Asus routers allowing an unauthenticated attacker to achieve remote code execution as a root user. VulnCheck began observing exploitation of the Asus vulnerability on May 17.
DOJ Says KimWolf Powered Massive DDoS-for-Hire OperationsU.S. prosecutors charged a Canadian man accused of operating the KimWolf botnet, alleging the DDoS-for-hire platform compromised nearly two million IoT devices and powered attacks that reached record traffic volumes worldwide.
U.S. and Canadian authorities arrested and charged a Canadian man with operating the KimWolf distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) botnet, which infected nearly two million devices worldwide. [...]
The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) on Thursday announced the arrest of a Canadian man in connection with allegedly operating a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) botnet known as Kimwolf
Jacob Butler, a 23-year-old from Ottawa, awaits extradition to the United States and faces up to 10 years in prison. The post Alleged leader of Kimwolf, a sweeping botnet for cybercriminals, arrested in Canada appeared first on CyberScoop.
Canadian authorities on Wednesday arrested a 23-year-old Ottawa man on suspicion of building and operating Kimwolf, a fast spreading Internet-of-Things botnet that enslaved millions of devices for use in a series of massive distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks over the past six months. KrebsOnSecurity publicly named the suspect in February 2026 after the accused launched a volley of DDoS, doxing and swatting campaigns against this author and a security researcher. He now faces criminal hacking charges in both Canada and the United States.
The Russian hacker group Secret Blizzard has developed its long-running Kazuar backdoor into a modular peer-to-peer (P2P) botnet designed for long-term persistence, stealth, and data collection. [...]
The Russian state-sponsored hacking group known as Turla has transformed its custom backdoor Kazuar into a modular peer-to-peer (P2P) botnet that's engineered for stealth and persistent access to compromised hosts
Kazuar, a sophisticated malware family attributed to the Russian state actor Secret Blizzard, has been under constant development for years and continues to evolve in support of espionage-focused operations. Over time, Kazuar has expanded from a relatively traditional backdoor into a highly modular peer-to-peer (P2P) botnet ecosystem designed to enable persistent, covert access to target environments. The post Kazuar: Anatomy of a nation-state botnet appeared first on Microsoft Security Blog.