In a recent survey by the National Cybersecurity Alliance it was reported that 71 per cent of users have never heard the word ‘botnet’ before. The harm done by bots and botnets is such that the public does need to have a basic understanding of what these threats are and what bots and botnets are capable of. As people become aware of risks they generally become more interested in mitigation. Public education itself will not solve the problem of bot-infected PCs and botnets, but it is a part of the fi ght against these criminal tools.

It can be extremely challenging to attempt to explain technical concepts to non-technical people. There are two goals for this presentation. The first is to be able to educate non-technical users as to what bots and botnets are, and what they are capable of. To reach this goal it is essential that technical jargon is reduced, as much as is possible, to understandable concepts. Analogies are essential teaching aids for this purpose.

The second goal of this presentation is to share a method of teaching a technical subject in a manner that relatively non-technical people can understand. This presentation is not intended to teach anyone how to analyse bots or combat botnets.