3 Reasons Learn About Zombie Cookie Is Going to Be Big in 2023

1. What is a Zombie Cookie?

Zombie cookies allow online traffic tracking corporations.

A zombie cookie is a piece of data that can be stored in multiple locations. The failure to remove all copies of the zombie cookie.

This will result in the removal being reversible; zombie cookies can be difficult to remove.

Furthermore, Zombie is not just a word that only exists in fiction movies and Books!!!

What do zombie cookies do?

Firstly, Zombie cookies allow online traffic tracking corporations to obtain information like past unique user IDs and track personal browsing behavior.

Secondly, the standard third-party browser tracking cookie is pretty easy to erase.

Thirdly, there is a more persistent variant, dubbed the “Zombie cookie,” that is far more difficult to locate and remove.

Purpose of Cookie

Firstly, Cookies are useful for web analytics organizations to track Internet activity and sites visited for marketing research.

Secondly, Sites that want to collect user statistics will place a cookie from a traffic tracking site on the user’s computer.

Thirdly, As the user navigates the internet, the cookie accumulates extra data for each site.

Thus, it utilizes the traffic tracking cookie and transmits it back to the central tracking server.

We can block these cookies by Checking

“Block third-party cookies and site data” OR uncheck the “Accept third-party cookies” box.

2. Zombie Computer (Compromised computer)

Firstly, A zombie computer is one that is linked to a network but has been infected by a virus, Trojan horse, or hacker.

Secondly, It can be useful for malicious tasks.

Furthermore, The reference to the walking dead is made since most zombie computer owners are unaware that their system is being used in this way.

Lastly, In a way that is similar to the conventional zombie attacks in horror films, they are also utilized in DDoS attacks in cooperation with botnets.

What are they used for?

Spam has also been sent using zombies.

Between 50% and 80% of all spam in circulation, according to estimates from 2005, was sent Denial-of-service attacks (DDoS).

Furthermore, it refers to the saturation of websites with a large number of computers accessing them at the same time, frequently using zombies.

Major attacks (according to Wikipedia)

In 2000, several high-profile websites (such as Yahoo or eBay) crashed thanks to a distributed denial-of-service attack carried out by a Canadian teenager using the nickname MafiaBoy.

Later, another large-scale denial- and degradation-of-service attacks used the same model,

Such as the one aimed at anti-spam systems like SPEWS in 2003 or Blue Frog in 2006.

More recently, in 2010, the Telematic Crime Brigade of the Spanish Civil Guard brought down a criminal network called Mariposa, which controlled approximately 13 million computers, and the perpetrators were arrested.

They possessed information from 800,000 people in 180 countries.

3. Botnet

Firstly, A botnet, also known as a “robot network,” is a collection of malware-infected computers.

Secondly, they are managed by a single attacker, also referred to as a “bot-herder.”

Thirdly, Governments, businesses, and individuals are extremely concerned about the cybersecurity of botnets.

Furthermore, they are one of the most sophisticated types of modern malware.

Common botnet actions include:

Email spam:
They are primarily useful to send out huge amounts of spam communications, including viruses.

DDoS attacks:
They use the massive size of the botnet to flood a target network or server with requests.
Thus, making it inaccessible to the users for whom it was designed.

Targeted intrusions:
tiny botnets intended to compromise a few key, high-value organizations from which attackers can access the network and spread their influence.

Financial breach:
includes botnets, particularly useful for the theft of credit card information and funds from businesses directly.

Types of Botnets:

1. Botnets using internet relay chat
An internet relay chatbot (IRC bot) is a programme that automates tasks and interactions in an IRC chat room or channel while spoofing as a human user.

2. Automated botnets
These botnets operate without human intervention or control.

3. HTTP botnets
The bot herder sends instructions to the bots via HTTP, and the bots check the server for new updates and actions.

4. P2P Botnets
P2P botnets are more complicated to set up than IRC or HTTP botnets. They are more resilient, however, because they are not reliant on a centralized server.

5. Manual botnets
Some may prefer manual botnets over fully autonomous ones when performing an attack on another party due to the superior control they provide.

6. Backdoor botnets
A backdoor is any technique that allows both authorized and unauthorized users to bypass standard security measures.
In order to gain high-level user access (also known as root access).

6. Spam-sending botnets
These botnets are designed to send millions, if not billions, of unwanted spam messages to their intended recipients from infected devices around the world.

Conclusion

In the above blog, we have learned, Cookies are used by web analytics organizations to track Internet activity and sites visited for marketing research. Sites that want to collect user statistics will place a cookie from a traffic tracking site on the user’s computer.
As the user navigates the internet, the cookie accumulates extra data for each site. Thus, it utilizes the traffic tracking cookie and transmits it back to the central tracking server.