Lacework\\\'s analysis of the Muhstik botnet is interesting on several levels, especially in its command and control infrastructure. Internet Relay Chat (IRC) has been largely forgotten in this day of myriad web and application based chat options, but was once the method of choice for botnet control. The Muhstik authors have gone old school here, while targeting IoT devices, cloud servers, and home routers. The fact that this botnet has remained in operation for over two years shows how hard it can be to effectively contain and eradicate these threats. Fortunately, it is relatively easy to identify and disrupt this botnet\\\'s C2 traffic. Simple firewall rules can stop traffic to identified C2 nodes, while security analytics can easily detect the behaviors associated with an infected host or the botnet\\\'s spread.  Read Less