botnet

noun

bot·​net ˈbät-ˌnet How to pronounce botnet (audio)
: a network of computers that have been linked together by malware : a network of bots (see bot entry 1 sense 2b)
Criminals link hijacked personal computers together to form "botnets"—clusters of infected PCs that spammers can control from anywhere in the world.Dave Mosher

Examples of botnet in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Tech giants such as Google long have had a playbook for destroying botnets like Glupteba. Paresh Dave, WIRED, 15 Aug. 2024 In this case, the botnet leveraged the User Datagram Protocol (UDP), which is designed to transfer data quickly, but can be exploited to create a large DDoS, also known as a UDP flood attack. Michael Kan, PCMAG, 2 Oct. 2024 Russia-state hackers have also been caught assembling large IoT botnets for the same purposes. Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 18 Sep. 2024 Gadgets catch on fire, get hacked so that remote intruders can spy on you, or get infected with malware that turns them into botnets. Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 18 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for botnet 

Word History

Etymology

bot entry 1 + net entry 1

First Known Use

2003, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of botnet was in 2003

Dictionary Entries Near botnet

Cite this Entry

“Botnet.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/botnet. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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