Tech Teacher

Author/Source: Brian Krebs See the full link here

Takeaway

This article explains how criminals used networks of compromised computers, called botnets, to commit online fraud. You will learn about how companies offering “residential proxy” services might have unknowingly helped these criminal activities.

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Technical Subject Understandability

Intermediate

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Analogy/Comparison

Using a residential proxy is like a criminal borrowing your house as a hiding spot while they commit crimes, making it look like the crimes are coming from your address instead of theirs.

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Why It Matters

These botnets are used for various types of online fraud, including “click fraud” that steals money from advertisers and “credential stuffing” which tries to hack into people’s online accounts. For example, the article mentions one botnet made over a million dollars each month from click fraud, which ultimately raises advertising costs for everyone.

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Related Terms

Botnet, Residential proxy, Click fraud, Credential stuffing. Jargon Conversion: A botnet is a network of many computers secretly controlled by a criminal without their owners knowing. A residential proxy is a service that lets someone else send their internet traffic through a regular person’s home internet connection, making it look like the traffic is coming from that home. Click fraud is a type of scam where automated programs pretend to click on online ads, making advertisers pay for fake interest. Credential stuffing is when criminals use stolen usernames and passwords from one website to try and log into people’s accounts on many other websites.