Botnet

A botnet is a network of compromised devices under the control of an attacker via command-and-control infrastructure, used to launch DDoS attacks, distribute spam and malware, mine cryptocurrency, or proxy abuse traffic. Telecom-relevant botnets such as Mirai, Mozi, and successors have largely been built from poorly secured CPE and IoT devices, including those provisioned by carriers.

Categories: Threats and AttacksIoT

Botnet in context

Telecom threats range from opportunistic SMS phishing and SIM swap to nation-state grade location tracking. The common thread is that most attacks exploit the inherited trust model of legacy signaling protocols.

Cellular IoT — NB-IoT, LTE-M and 5G mMTC — brings billions of devices with weak identities and long field lifetimes into operator networks, extending signaling attack surface at scale.

To place Botnet in the wider telecom-security picture, review VLAN, 5G, A5/0, A5/2, AMPS and Anomaly Detection — each entry cross-references back to this page so you can walk the topic in either direction.

Related terms

More from the TelcoSec Glossary

Browse the full TelcoSec Glossary, the Ultimate Guide to Mobile Network Security, or the P1 Arsenal of telecom-security tools.