Tag: botnet

Streaming service withstands 13‑day DDoS siege

July 26, 2019

The attack, unleashed by a 400,000-strong Mirai-style botnet, may be the largest of its kind on record. A botnet made up of 402,000 enslaved Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices has staged a 13-day distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack against an undisclosed streaming service, according to a blog post by cybersecurity firm Imperva. The company said it successfully counteracted the onslaught and the … More Streaming service withstands 13‑day DDoS siege

What is threat cumulativity and what does it mean for digital security?

January 4, 2019

A reflection on how acknowledging the cumulative nature of cyber-threats and understanding its implications can benefit our digital security. Threat cumulativity is a term I began to use in 2018 to refer to the tendency of new technologies to spawn new threats that add to old threats without displacing them. In this article I give … More What is threat cumulativity and what does it mean for digital security?

Could home appliances knock down power grids?

September 7, 2018

Far-fetched though it may sound, the answer is yes, according to researchers, who show that electrical grids and smart home appliances could make for a dangerous mix. Cybercriminals could rope internet-connected household appliances into a botnet in order to manipulate the demand side of the power grid and, ultimately, cause anything from local outages to large-scale blackouts, … More Could home appliances knock down power grids?

Smart irrigation systems vulnerable to attacks, warn researchers

August 22, 2018

Internet-connected irrigation systems suffer from security gaps that could be exploited by attackers aiming, for example, to deplete a city’s water reserves, researchers warn. Security researchers have warned of a potential attack that – using a “piping botnet” of internet-connected irrigation systems that water simultaneously – could impact a city’s water system to the point of … More Smart irrigation systems vulnerable to attacks, warn researchers

ESET helps law enforcement worldwide to disrupt Gamarue botnet

December 5, 2017

Law enforcement authorities across the globe disrupted many long-running botnets powered by a malware family dubbed as Gamarue, mostly detected by ESET as Win32/TrojanDownloader.Wauchos and also known as Andromeda, capping a year-plus concerted effort that relied on technical intelligence from Microsoft and ESET researchers. ESET, having been approached by Microsoft to join the disruption effort, provided a technical analysis … More ESET helps law enforcement worldwide to disrupt Gamarue botnet

DDoS attacks explained

September 4, 2017

A new DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack on a prominent website is making headlines today (Aug. 24). Just days after the Department of Justice demanded visitor data for an anti-Trump website from the web host company DreamHost (which rejected the request), the company has reported a DDoS attack. DreamHost, which is home to more than … More DDoS attacks explained

Spiderman pleads guilty to knocking 900,000 German broadband routers offline

July 27, 2017

It seems that Spiderman is in a spot of trouble, tangled in a web of his own making. Back in November 2016, over 900,000 Deutsche Telekom broadband customers found themselves unable to access the internet, after their routers were hijacked by a malicious hacker attempting to recruit routers into a destructive botnet. Vulnerable Zyxel and Speedport routers … More Spiderman pleads guilty to knocking 900,000 German broadband routers offline