The Internet of Things will host devastating, unstoppable botnets

Kurt Buff kurt.buff at gmail.com
Wed Apr 12 19:50:40 PDT 2017


I foresee a not-for-profit venture that seeks out any and all devices
that aren't protected and seeks to permanently disable them.

Perhaps called BrickerBot...

Kurt

On Wed, Apr 12, 2017 at 5:35 PM, Razer <g2s at riseup.net> wrote:
> Bwahahahahahaaahackcoughgasp-wheeeeeze!
>
>
>> Bruce Schneier takes to the pages of Technology Review to remind us
>> all that while botnets have been around for a long time, the Internet
>> of Things is supercharging them, thanks to insecurity by design.
>>
>> Botnets are useful for denial of service attacks, but they're also an
>> indispensable part of the spam ecosystem, clickfraud, extortion, and
>> other bad news.
>>
>> Cheap IoT gadgets are manufactured by absentee proprietors and large,
>> respected companies who ignore urgent warnings about their defects (or
>> punish people who complain by remote-bricking their gadgets), leading
>> to nightmarish breaches.
>>
>> Worse, IoT manufacturers use antiquated DRM laws to threaten security
>> researchers who reveal the defects in their products with brutal
>> lawsuits and even jail-time (and this will be a risk for any device
>> controlled by a browser).
>>
>>> ..... Once you know a botnet exists, you can attack its
>>> command-and-control system. When botnets were rare, this tactic was
>>> effective. As they get more common, this piecemeal defense will
>>> become less so. You can also secure yourself against the effects of
>>> botnets. For example, several companies sell defenses against
>>> denial-of-service attacks. Their effectiveness varies, depending on
>>> the severity of the attack and the type of service.
>>>
>>>     But overall, the trends favor the attacker. Expect more attacks
>>> like the one against Dyn in the coming year.
>>
>>
>> Botnets of Things [Bruce Schneier/MIT Technology Review]
>
>
> Clickthru boingx2 (some other links on-page):
> http://boingboing.net/2017/04/12/forever-day-bugs-2.html
>
>



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