Zero Botnets: An Observe-Pursue-Counter Approach

Understand

Adversarial Internet robots (botnets) represent a growing threat to the safe use and stability of the Internet.

• Botnets can play a role in launching adversary reconnaissance (scanning and phishing), influence operations (upvoting), and financing operations (ransomware, market manipulation, denial of service, spamming, and ad click fraud) while obfuscating tailored tactical operations.
• Reducing the presence of botnets on the Internet, with the aspirational target of zero, is a powerful vision for galvanizing policy action.
• Setting a global goal, encouraging international cooperation, creating incentives for improving networks, and supporting entities for botnet takedowns are among several policies that could advance this goal.