: 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
Dave MosherExamples of botnet in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The good news is that Google is working to crack down on the threat, which operates as a botnet or an army of infected devices.
—PC Magazine, 17 July 2025
Such botnets are typically made up of home and small office routers, web cameras, and other Internet of Things devices that have been compromised.
—ArsTechnica, 20 June 2025
The botnet is primarily used to turn infected devices into residential proxy nodes, providing hackers with anonymous access to real home IP addresses.
—Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 12 June 2025
Hackers can overload websites with traffic requests by botnets leveraging IoT endpoints, which results in site crashes.
—Chuck Brooks, Forbes.com, 18 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for botnet
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PC Magazine, 17 July 2025
Such botnets are typically made up of home and small office routers, web cameras, and other Internet of Things devices that have been compromised.
—ArsTechnica, 20 June 2025
The botnet is primarily used to turn infected devices into residential proxy nodes, providing hackers with anonymous access to real home IP addresses.
—Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 12 June 2025
Hackers can overload websites with traffic requests by botnets leveraging IoT endpoints, which results in site crashes.
—Chuck Brooks, Forbes.com, 18 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for botnet
Cite this Entry
“Botnet.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/botnet. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.
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