Editing Botnet (section)

==Overview==
A botnet is a logical collection of [[Internet]]-connected devices, such as computers, [[smartphone]]s or [[Internet of things]] (IoT) devices whose [[Computer security|security]] have been breached and control ceded to a third party. Each compromised device, known as a "bot," is created when a device is penetrated by software from a ''[[malware]]'' (malicious software) distribution. The controller of a botnet is able to direct the activities of these compromised computers through communication channels formed by standards-based [[network protocol]]s, such as [[IRC]] and [[Hypertext Transfer Protocol]] (HTTP).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sans.org/reading-room/whitepapers/malicious/bots-botnet-overview-1299 |title=Bots &; Botnet: An Overview |last=Ramneek |first=Puri |date=2003-08-08 |publisher=[[SANS Institute]] |access-date=12 November 2013 |archive-date=12 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150712184404/http://www.sans.org/reading-room/whitepapers/malicious/bots-botnet-overview-1299 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Putman|first1=C. G. J.|last2=Abhishta|last3=Nieuwenhuis|first3=L. J. M.|title=2018 26th Euromicro International Conference on Parallel, Distributed and Network-based Processing (PDP) |chapter=Business Model of a Botnet |date=March 2018|pages=441–445|doi=10.1109/PDP2018.2018.00077|isbn=978-1-5386-4975-6|bibcode=2018arXiv180410848P|arxiv=1804.10848|s2cid=13756969}}</ref>

Botnets are increasingly [[Cyber-arms industry#Online|rented out]] by [[Cybercrime|cyber criminals]] as commodities for a variety of purposes,<ref>{{cite news| last1=Danchev| first1=Dancho| title=Novice cyberciminals offer commercial access to five mini botnets| url=http://www.webroot.com/blog/2013/10/11/novice-cyberciminals-offer-commercial-access-5-mini-botnets/| website=Webroot| access-date=28 June 2015| date=11 October 2013| archive-date=1 July 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701025356/http://www.webroot.com/blog/2013/10/11/novice-cyberciminals-offer-commercial-access-5-mini-botnets/| url-status=live}}</ref> including as [[booter/stresser]] services.