Botnets are considered by the Internet security community to be a major threat to general security and personal information.<ref name="norton"/><ref name="sophos">[http://www.sophos.com/en-us/medialibrary/PDFs/other/sophos-security-threat-report-2014.pdf Security Threat Report 2014] (PDF), Sophos</ref> Individuals, however, may not be aware that their computers are infected, making botnets an insidious threat. Botnet attacks negatively affect the Internet community and many personal users through identity theft, poor computer performance, spam, and [[malware]]. | Botnets are considered by the Internet security community to be a major threat to general security and personal information.<ref name="norton"/><ref name="sophos">[http://www.sophos.com/en-us/medialibrary/PDFs/other/sophos-security-threat-report-2014.pdf Security Threat Report 2014] (PDF), Sophos</ref> Individuals, however, may not be aware that their computers are infected, making botnets an insidious threat. Botnet attacks negatively affect the Internet community and many personal users through identity theft, poor computer performance, spam, and [[malware]]. |