Cybercrime Terminology

A BOTNET, or robot network,

is a group of web-linked computers — sometimes called zombies — that have been commandeered, in some instances by criminals, to perpetrate all kinds of online nastiness. Typically a 'bot' is installed on a machine through a trojan, an insidious program that can find its way into an insufficiently protected computer in a variety of ways, such as when a user clicks on a link to an infected web page or e-mail message, views an infected document, or runs an infected program. Once the bot has made itself at home, it "opens the doors" of its new host computer to its master, who can instruct the machine to engage in various nefarious activities such as sending out spam and phishing e-mails, or launching the distributed denial of service or DDOS attacks like the kind that almost brought down the internet. In some cases, these nasty little robots can steal personal data and return it to a central site to be used for identity theft purposes.

MALWARE

is a catch-all term for malicious software such as computer viruses, spyware, trojans and so on that compromise the security or function of people's computers.

PHISHING

is a technique in which criminals try to trick people into disclosing sensitive information, such as online banking names and passwords, and is often conducted through e-mails that direct people to a bogus website.

PHARMING

is an attack in which malicious individuals try to redirect internet traffic from a legitimate website to a false one. This is sometimes done to collect a person's login or password information.

TROJANS

are programs that appear to perform one function in order to hide a malicious function — for example, a downloaded game might contain a virus. Like the mythological Trojan horse such programs are named after, the deception tricks people into granting an outsider access to their computer.

ZOMBIES

are computers that have been hijacked to perform commands and functions issued to them by the attackers, often without the owners' knowledge. They are typically infected by Trojans, a type of software that enables attackers to use them in a botnet. An infected computer is sometimes referred to as a bot — short for robot.

Experts now recommend keeping two computers — one for sensitive online transactions like banking or business, and another for general surfing. This is especially important if your kids are computer users, as they tend to be more adventurous in their surfing than adults.