Related Articles
The cyber attack which took down various websites such as Twitter, Netflix, and Reddit last week has now been said to have been originated from the 100,000 web enabled devices which were taken together by the malicious software program.
This is according to the company which was involved in the attack, Dyn, which is a New Hampshire company which manages the significant portion of the Internet infrastructure and was the main target of the attack. The Executive Vice President for Dyn, Scott Hilton, said that the attack had opened up an important conversation about the Internet security and the volatility.
The attack has managed to highlight and show various vulnerabilities and flaws which are encountered in the security of the Internet of Things devices and it definitely needs to be addressed. The attack has also seen a further dialogue spark from the Internet infrastructure community and the future of the Internet.
The analysis by Dyn also confirmed the magnitude of the attack and also the relative ease with which the attacker managed go enslave the flawed devices which were bought to cause mischief, and even worse. The attack was recorded as the largest and had been delivered in two major blows to the Internet.
The company also estimated that the 100,000 sources which included the home security cameras, some DVRs, wireless routers, and various other devices which were connected to the Internet. Most of these products were also seen to have weaker passwords and no protection in some cases. This is just a fraction of the millions of devices which can be used for attacks. In the case last week, the program which was used was called Mirai.
The potential of some devices to turn into the instruments of cyber mayhem has been largely growing over time and after the scale of attacks which happened last week has now increased. One of the major attacks which happened besides the recent attack on websites was on the website of Brian Krebs, which managed to force the site offline for some days.
The attack was thought to be a retaliation by some Israeli hackers. The attack on the Krebs website was also done by the Mirai user who had also managed to enslave some of the insecure Web devices.
More regulation and attention should clearly taken for these devices and their exploitation by hackers. Thankfully, one of the manufacturers for such devices which were used in the attack last week sent out a recall so that they could patch up the devices with an update.
The European Commission is also looking at ways to put forth rules which require device manufacturers to upgrade the security of their products. However, the number of international companies which are involved in the market makes it impossible to stem out the threat.
