Bot Herder

The term Bot Herder refers to a person who controls or manages a botnet, directing compromised devices to perform automated malicious activity such as spam, denial-of-service attacks, fraud, or malware distribution. It gives election, security, legal, or technical readers a specific label for the concept rather than a broader everyday meaning.

In practice, Bot Herder is applied to the technical or security purpose captured by its definition: a person who controls or manages a botnet, directing compromised devices to perform automated malicious activity such as spam, denial-of-service attacks, fraud. Organizations combine that function with documented procedures, authorized access, testing, monitoring, and controls appropriate to the system.

Understanding Bot Herder matters because the concept can affect security, reliability, auditability, or trusted operation. In this glossary context, it refers to a person who controls or manages a botnet, directing compromised devices to perform automated malicious activity such as spam, denial-of-service attacks, fraud.