IoT Attacks
- What it is: Cyberattacks targeting the growing ecosystem of internet-connected devices, including smart home appliances, industrial control systems, medical devices, and wearables. These attacks exploit the often-limited security features, unpatched vulnerabilities, and default configurations prevalent in many IoT devices to gain unauthorized access, control devices, steal data, or launch further attacks.
- How it works: Attackers leverage various attack vectors to compromise IoT devices. Common methods include exploiting weak or default passwords, unpatched firmware vulnerabilities, insecure network protocols (e.g., unencrypted communication), and vulnerabilities in associated mobile or cloud applications. Once a device is compromised, it can be used to form botnets for DDoS attacks, conduct surveillance, manipulate physical processes (in the case of industrial or medical devices), or serve as a gateway to the broader network. The sheer number and diversity of IoT devices, coupled with often-lax security standards, create a vast attack surface.
- Example with key data: The Mirai botnet, which emerged in 2016, provides a prominent example of a large-scale IoT attack. Mirai targeted a wide range of vulnerable IoT devices, primarily digital video recorders (DVRs) and IP cameras, that were running BusyBox and using default or hardcoded credentials. The malware scanned the internet for these vulnerable devices and infected them, building a botnet of hundreds of thousands of compromised devices. This botnet was then used to launch massive DDoS attacks against critical internet infrastructure, such as the DNS provider Dyn, causing widespread internet outages. Key data points include the reliance on exploiting default credentials (demonstrating a fundamental security flaw in many devices) and the unprecedented scale of the botnet, highlighting the potential for IoT devices to be weaponized for significant disruptive impact.