Sdbot

Category: rat · Aliases: rbot, spybot · Sample count (EMBER 2018): 1,931 · Enrichment: hand-curated · Updated: 2026-05-27

Overview

SDBot is a long-running IRC-controlled botnet family with origins in the early 2000s that established many techniques used by later botnets, including modular plugins, network-share propagation, and DDoS capability. The leaked SDBot source code spawned countless derivatives. While the original SDBot is now largely historical, the avclass label continues to capture many derivative IRC-bot families.

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques

This family has been observed using the following ATT&CK techniques: T1547.001 T1071.001

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Sdbot?

SDBot is a long-running IRC-controlled botnet family with origins in the early 2000s that established many techniques used by later botnets, including modular plugins, network-share propagation, and DDoS capability. The leaked SDBot source code spawned countless derivatives. While the original SDBot is now largely historical, the avclass label continues to capture many derivative IRC-bot families.

How does Sdbot spread?

SdBot (RBot) is an older IRC-controlled backdoor family spread through network share exploitation, weak passwords, and bundled with cracked software.

What are the signs of a Sdbot infection?

Outbound IRC traffic on non-standard ports, unfamiliar admin accounts created on the system, and AV detections for SdBot, RBot, or Spybot indicate compromise.

What should I do if I think I have Sdbot on my system?

If you suspect this malware on your system, do not attempt manual removal. Contact SystemHelpdesk expert MSP support at 855-783-7555 for professional incident response guidance.

Need help with an active incident? If you suspect this malware on your system, do not attempt manual removal. Contact SystemHelpdesk expert MSP support at 855-783-7555 for professional incident response guidance.

Machine-readable

Get this profile as JSON: https://jordanricky1604-ship-it.github.io/malware-families-catalog/api/sdbot.json

About this catalog

This profile is part of the Malware Families Catalog, a public dataset of 2,899 malware families extracted from the EMBER 2018 benchmark. The catalog is also published on Hugging Face and Kaggle.