The Reign of Botnets

1A Short History of the Internet

Our journey begins with a description of the evolution of the Internet and the emergence of a new type of fraud and abuse that leverages botnets.

From ARPANET to the Metaverse

The Internet is so ingrained in our day-to-day life that it seems as though it's always been around. However, the Internet is a relatively new invention—and it keeps evolving. The precursor of the Internet, called the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), was invented in the 1960s, in the middle of the Cold War, to ensure continuity of availability of the network and computing resources even after a portion of it is removed or destroyed. Government researchers could also share information quickly without requiring them to travel to another location. ARPANET was a closed system using proprietary protocols, and only explicitly authorized people could access it. The idea of a network where one could share information and computing resources sparked the interest of academics, and the need for standardized communication protocols arose. Various communication protocols, including Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and Domain Name System (DNS), were developed in the 1980s, marking the birth of the Internet as we know it today. TCP/IP defines how information is exchanged between two machines on the Internet. ...