A botnet is a collection of infected computers under the control of one or more attackers. These botnets are used for a variety of criminal purposes -– all of which pose serious risk to the infected user as well as to the entire Internet community.

Once your computer is under the control of a botnet, it may be used to spam others, host phishing sites and other illicit files, infect or attack others, or have adware and spyware foisted on it so the attackers can collect from various affiliate advertising programs.

Even worse, many of today’s threats include keylogging capabilities. Of special interest to the attackers are your personal financial details – once stolen they are used for everything from credit card fraud to outright identity theft. In short, it’s not just your computer at risk – it’s your wallet.