The botnets work in conjugation with enslaved computers and zombies and infect a large number of devices all over the world. A botnet is the collection of compromised computers that were hijacked and are now used to perform some illegal tasks. The hackers don’t need to use your IP address to attack your device. Instead, they simply create huge networks of zombie computers and control different devices from a remote location.

Botnets began making their mark in 2001 when the financially motivated hackers sent suspicious codes online and attacked a large number of unprotected devices without the knowledge of users.

Here Artem Abgarian, a leading expert of Semalt, has discussed the different ways to fight botnets online.

1. Hire the web-filtering services

The web-filtering services are best and most reliable to date. They help scan our systems for possible bots and unusual behavior. Also, these services scan the malicious activities and block the sites that send suspicious visits to you. FaceTime Communications, Websense, and Cyveillance are some examples of the web-filtering services that you can depend on. They monitor your online activities and prevent your devices from the suspicious things such as downloading the JavaScripts and performing the screen scrapes. In addition, they trick the botnets and make your browsing experience reliable and friendly to a great extent.

2. Switch the browsers

Another way to fight botnets is switching your web browsers. You should standardize on the browsers other than Internet Explorer and Firefox. These two browsers are an easy victim of hackers and do not show the desired results when attacked by botnets. The best option is Google Chrome, which has no alternative. Macs are safe from botnets statically, and Linux is also good to go with.

3. Disable the scripts

An extreme yet wonderful measure is to disable the browsers from the script altogether, but this might put a damper on the productivity of your websites and web-based applications. This is not a suitable option for companies and individuals working as freelancers and earning a lot from their websites.

4. Deploy the intrusion-prevention and intrusion-detection systems

Another interesting and useful way is to deploy some intrusion-prevention and intrusion-detection systems. For instance, if your machine blasts away on the Internet Relay Chat, you can deploy any of the two systems to safeguard it instantly. The IPS monitor the behavior of your device and indicate the hard-to-spot HTTP attacks, which means deploying the two systems can benefit you and your device.

5. Protect the user-generated content

It’s important to protect your user-generated content on a regular basis so that it doesn’t become the victim of malware writers online. Dan Hubbard, the president of Websense, says that one of the major issues of user-created sites is the Web 2.0 phenomenon.

6. Use the remediation tools

If your machine has been infected, you should use the remediation tools. Companies such as Symantec use such tools on a regular basis as they help detect and clean all types of rootkits and botnets. Doing so, you can choose who should visit your site and who should not. It will eventually improve the overall quality of your website and will prevent the system from the rootkit and botnet infections.