With their ever increasing malicious capabilities and potential to infect a vast majority of computers on the Internet, botnets are emerging as the single biggest threat to Internet security. The aim of this project is to perform a detailed analysis of botnets and the vulnerabilities exploited by them to spread themselves and perform various malicious activities such as DDoS attacks. DDoS attacks are without doubt the most potent form of attacks carried out by botnets. In order to better understand this growing phenomenon and develop effective counter measures, it is necessary to be able to simulate DDoS attacks in a controlled environment. Simulating a DDoS attack with control over various simulation and attack parameters will give us insights into how attacks achieve stealth and avoid detection. A detailed analysis of existing DDoS defense strategies and proposals combined with the insights derived from simulation should enable us to come up with innovative and feasible solutions to prevent and mitigate DDoS attacks carried out using Botnet
