A ‘botnet controller,’ ‘botnet C2,’ or ‘botnet command & control’ server is commonly abbreviated to ‘botnet C&C.’ Fraudsters use these to control malware-infected machines (bots) and extract personal and valuable data from malware-infected victims.
Botnet C&Cs play a vital role in operations conducted by cybercriminals who are using infected machines to send out spam or ransomware, launch DDoS attacks, commit e-banking fraud or click fraud, or mine cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.
Desktop computers and mobile devices, like smartphones, aren’t the only machines that can become infected. There is an increasing number of devices connected to the internet, for example, the Internet of Things (IoT), devices like webcams, network attached storage (NAS), and many more items. These are also at risk of becoming infected.