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, CPE, Egress, Cell Phone (Mobile Phone), IoT and MAC Filtering: each entry cross-references back to this page so you can walk the topic in either direction.

Related terms

Related topic hubs

  • Diameter Attacks S6a IDR/PUR/CLR abuse, subscriber tracking, LTE signaling attacks.

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.