Ride the Lightning

The Fragility of the Internet: Who Was Behind Last Friday’s DDoS Attack?

October 27, 2016

SC Magazine reported yesterday that Flashpoint researchers say the Mirai DDOS attack that took down PayPal, Twitter, Reddit, GitHub, Amazon, Netflix, Spotify and Runescape was initiated by users from hackforums[.]net and not a nation-state or cybercriminal organization.

The Flashpoint researchers said that these hackers are known for creating and using commercial DDoS tools and offering their services online as a "DDoS for hire" service.

The attack began last Friday morning hitting three Dyn data centers in the northeastern U.S., which localized the damage for a time. What was remarkable about the attack is how effectively it utilized Internet of Things devices, including routers, cameras and DVR recorders with default IDs and passwords, easily compromised with the Marai IoT botnet malware.

If nothing else, it was a wake-up call to all IoT manufacturers, and hopefully users, to be more proactive with their security.

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