Ever heard of a botnet? Neither had I until recently.

They are, unfortunately, the latest device in the burgeoning criminal click fraud industry. Although they are being used in other types of fraud, they are becoming an increasing threat to users of Pay Per Click (PPC).

Ryan Sherstobitoff, of Panda Software refers to them as a “silent epidemic.”  His company recently dismantled a botnet that had infected over 50,000 computers with a virus known as Clickbot.A Trojan. In describing what the botnet did, Sherstobitoff  said, “Imagine if each of those 50,000 computers made the botnet controller one dollar each day the system operated. If it takes us a few weeks to shut him down, the operator makes millions.”

That’s part of what is so sinister about botnets. Some of the programs are designed to be virtually undetectable by only entering one fraudulent click a day. A single click a day doesn’t amount to much, until you multiple that click over a network that is clicking on over 50,000 ads a day.

The botnets being used in click fraud register themselves as browser help objects and activate whenever Internet Explorer is run on the computer. The botnets then register fraudulent clicks at pay per click ads.

For more on the specifics of the Clickbot.A Trojan botnet, you can read Panda Software’s press release.

To help prevent your computer from being infected and used by a botnet, it’s recommended you keep your anti-virus products updated. And if you suspect that you might be a click fraud victim, it’s recommended that you use a click fraud detection program, like Zunch Worldwide’s Click Fraud Detective, which identifies fraudulent clicks so that users can recover funds lost as a result of fraudulent clicks.