botnet

noun

bot·​net ˈbät-ˌnet 

: 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

Examples of botnet in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Another group involved in ransomware paid the network over $1 million for access to the botnet. — Paula Wethington, CBS News, 25 Mar. 2026

KrebsOnSecurity reports that Popa works less like a traditional botnet built for quick attacks and more like a persistent tunneling system. — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 3 July 2026

In response, Google, which develops the Android OS, shut down the Google accounts and services NetNut relied on to control the botnet. — Michael Kan, PC Magazine, 2 July 2026

And in 2018, a botnet that infected Android devices with cryptocurrency-mining malware appeared on some Fire Sticks, per discussion on XDA Forums. — Scharon Harding, ArsTechnica, 30 June 2026

Word History

Etymology

bot entry 1 + net entry 1

First Known Use

2003, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for botnet

• abet
• asset
• baguette
• banquette
• barbette
• beget
• beset
• binet
• briquette
• brunet
• brunette
• burette