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Researchers have uncovered a rash of ongoing attacks designed to damage routers and other Internet-connected appliances so badly that they become effectively inoperable.
PDoS attack bots (short for "permanent denial-of-service") scan the Internet for Linux-based routers, bridges, or similar Internet-connected devices that require only factory-default passwords to grant remote administrator access. Once the bots find a vulnerable target, they run a series of highly debilitating commands that wipe all the files stored on the device, corrupt the device's storage, and sever its Internet connection. Given the cost and time required to repair the damage, the device is effectively destroyed, or bricked, from the perspective of the typical consumer.
Over a four-day span last month, researchers from security firm Radware detected roughly 2,250 PDoS attempts on devices they made available in a specially constructed honeypot. The attacks came from two separate botnets—dubbed BrickerBot.1 and BrickerBot.2—with nodes for the first located all around the world. BrickerBot.1 eventually went silent, but even now the more destructive BrickerBot.2 attempts a log-on to one of the Radware-operated honeypot devices roughly once every two hours. The bots brick real-world devices that have the telnet protocol enabled and are protected by default passwords, with no clear sign to the owner of what happened or why.
See also this related blog post inspired by this article.
(Score: 3, Funny) by kaszz on Tuesday April 11 2017, @02:33AM (5 children)
Then the problem is bean counters and that's where the fix energy should be applied. Denial-of-business tend to be effective. Ie all devices stop working when they are plugged in. Hmm.. sounds familiar..
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Tuesday April 11 2017, @02:49AM (4 children)
Then the problem is bean counters not understanding internet attacks, and not understanding spending an extra $0.03 cents per device keeps your company from being sued into oblivion.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Tuesday April 11 2017, @03:42AM (1 child)
The hard part will then be *finding* the rigt company to sue.
Shelf company one manages shelf company two, parts manufactured under comtract at company three, all registered in different countries (if registered at all)
And the devices are packed, shipped, and sold by three or more additional companies.
Sue who?
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday April 11 2017, @04:23AM
It's enough to target the company that puts the product on the market. It will make it disappear. Of course another one can sell it but then they also gets taken out. Eventually the cost piles up.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by kaszz on Tuesday April 11 2017, @04:30AM
It's like the Darwin awards for corporations. They don't need to understand, they get wiped out anyway :p
(Score: 1) by nnet on Tuesday April 11 2017, @02:46PM
Are bean counters responsible for risk analysis too?