The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-in) is offering free security tools to remove bad bots from Windows and Android devices as part of its “Cyber Swachhta Kendra” (Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre) campaign.
The government body informed many citizens of the campaign via SMS. The message contains a link to get free security tools, including antivirus software and a bot remover tool. CERT-in is reportedly offering these tools to combat the rise in malware and hacking incidents.
CERT-in is also celebrating “National Cybersecurity Awareness Month” this month — a practice similar to the United States. October has been the Cybersecurity Awareness Month in the US since 2004, with this year marking the 20th edition of the practice.
What Are Bad Bots, and Why Are They Dangerous?
Bad bots are malicious programs that infect devices like smartphones and computers. Cybercriminals can control them remotely and often use them for malicious exploits.
In May, research by Imperva showed that bad bots are growing in sophistication and impacting businesses across all sectors, with travel, retail, and financial services as their biggest targets.
Malicious actors can use bad bots to carry out a number of illegal and/or dangerous actions. This includes web scraping, competitive data mining, stealing large troves of personal and financial data, brute force attacks, spam, digital ad fraud, and transaction fraud.
These actions can cause heavy financial losses to targets while also harming their reputations.
A collection of these bots is called a botnet. Bad actors generally use them to carry out DDoS attacks. You’ll find large botnets among the products on dark web marketplaces.
How to Protect Yourself From Bad Bots?
It is crucial to exercise caution to stay protected from bad bots and other malicious programs. Refrain from interacting with suspicious links in emails, SMSes, websites, or messaging services like WhatsApp. Erring on the side of caution is the approach we recommend.
Security tools can also help to keep you secure. A solid antivirus will conduct real-time scans of your device to check for malicious files. Antivirus services like Bitdefender also actively scan emails to check for potentially harmful links.
While you could try out the services on offer by CERT-in, free cybersecurity tools generally fall short of their premium counterparts on many levels. Furthermore, industry-leading services like Norton 360 and Bitdefender have years of independent tests to verify their features and claims. Considering the implications, we always recommend going for a tried and tested product.
CERT-in’s offerings are only for Windows and Android devices, Mac users looking to step up their security can check out our list of the top five antivirus for Mac.
