![](https://birdsonacable.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/botnets.jpg)
If you’ve listened to the news in the last few years, you’ve likely heard the term botnets, though you may not fully be aware of what they are. In essence, they’re a kind of malware that infects as many machines as possible, but unlike Cryptolocker, or adware, it then does it’s best to hide. It doesn’t want you, your antivirus, or your IT to find it.
One of the ways they hide is by staying small. They download an innocuous looking application that doesn’t appear to do…anything. It just runs in the background, sits there, and occasionally reaches out to an internet server (which is something any application that can update itself does). Essentially, they’re holding open the door. Depending on the botnet variant, they can remain dormant for hours to months, but eventually they check in with their Command and Control server, and that’s when the real activity happens.