: a network of computers that have been linked together by malware : a network of bots (see bot entry 1 sense 2b)
Criminals link hijacked personal computers together to form "botnets"—clusters of infected PCs that spammers can control from anywhere in the world.—
Dave Mosher
Dave MosherExamples of botnet in a Sentence
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The computers in question were in use by the Rhadamanthys infolstealer, VenomRAT, and Elysium botnet malware operations.
—Andrew Nusca, Fortune, 14 Nov. 2025
Meanwhile, Elysium appears to be a newer malware strain focused on using infected PCs to create a botnet, a collection of computers that can be harnessed for DDoS attacks and other malicious activities.
—PC Magazine, 13 Nov. 2025
Many of the advanced botnet capabilities come from these organizations.
—Carlos Morales, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025
The taxonomy seeks to expand on earlier taxonomies focused on identifying the different types of botnets and categorizing malicious socialbots that, for example, flood with spam a Twitter hashtag used to organize political protests.
—IEEE Spectrum, 9 June 2017
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Andrew Nusca, Fortune, 14 Nov. 2025
Meanwhile, Elysium appears to be a newer malware strain focused on using infected PCs to create a botnet, a collection of computers that can be harnessed for DDoS attacks and other malicious activities.
—PC Magazine, 13 Nov. 2025
Many of the advanced botnet capabilities come from these organizations.
—Carlos Morales, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025
The taxonomy seeks to expand on earlier taxonomies focused on identifying the different types of botnets and categorizing malicious socialbots that, for example, flood with spam a Twitter hashtag used to organize political protests.
—IEEE Spectrum, 9 June 2017
See All Example Sentences for botnet
Cite this Entry
“Botnet.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/botnet. Accessed 19 Nov. 2025.
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