Internet of Things

Pierluigi Paganini May 19, 2018
Updated – The new Wicked Mirai botnet leverages at least three new exploits

Security experts from Fortinet have spotted a new variant of the Mirai botnet dubbed ‘Wicked Mirai’, it includes new exploits and spread a new bot. The name Wicked Mirai comes from the strings in the code, the experts discovered that this new variant includes at least three new exploits compared to the original one. “The […]

Pierluigi Paganini May 19, 2018
More than 800,000 DrayTek routers at risks due to a mysterious zero-day exploit

DrayTek routers are affected by a zero-day vulnerability that could be exploited by attackers to change DNS settings on some models. Routers manufactured by the Taiwan-based vendor DrayTek are affected by a zero-day vulnerability that could be exploited by attackers to change DNS settings on some of its routers. DrayTek confirmed to be aware that hackers are attempting […]

Pierluigi Paganini May 18, 2018
Satori Botnet is targeting exposed Ethereum mining pools running the Claymore mining software

While a new variant of the dreaded Mirai botnet, so-called Wicked Mirai, emerged in the wild the operators of the Mirai Satori botnet appear very active. Experts observed hackers using the Satori botnet to mass-scan the Internet for exposed Ethereum mining pools, they are scanning for devices with port 3333 exposed online. The port 3333 is a port […]

Pierluigi Paganini April 26, 2018
Hacking the Amazon Alexa virtual assistant to spy on unaware users

Checkmarx experts created a proof-of-concept Amazon Echo Skill for Alexa that instructs the device to eavesdrop on users’ conversations and then sends the transcripts to a website controlled by the attackers. The Alexa virtual assistant could be abused by attackers to spy on consumers with smart devices. Researchers at security firm Checkmarx created a proof-of-concept Amazon Echo Skill […]

Pierluigi Paganini April 16, 2018
Attackers exfiltrated a casino’s high-roller list through a connected fish tank

Nicole Eagan, the CEO of cybersecurity company Darktrace, revealed that is company investigated that hack of an unnamed casino that was breached via a thermometer in a lobby fish tank. Internet of things devices are enlarging our attack surface, smart devices are increasingly targeted by hackers in the wild. The case we are going to discuss demonstrate […]

Pierluigi Paganini April 13, 2018
Experts uncovered a proxy botnet composed of over 65,000 routers exposed via UPnP protocol

Security researchers at Akamai have discovered a proxy botnet composed of more than 65,000 routers exposed to the Internet via the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) protocol. Crooks have compromised the devices of this multi-purpose proxy botnet to conduct a wide range of malicious activities, including spamming and phishing, click fraud, account takeover and credit card […]

Pierluigi Paganini March 13, 2018
13 Vulnerabilities in Hanwha SmartCams Demonstrate Risks of Feature Complexity

The researchers at Kaspersky Lab ICS CERT decided to check the popular Hanwha SmartCams and discovered 13 vulnerabilities. Wikipedia describes Attack Surface, as “[the] sum of the different points (the “attack vectors”) where an unauthorized user (the “attacker”) can try to enter data to or extract data from an environment.” Basically, the more points there are to compromise […]

Pierluigi Paganini March 04, 2018
GCHQ fears energy smart meters could expose millions of Bretons to hack

In the United Kingdom, new smart energy meters that are set to be installed in 27 million homes were found vulnerable by GCHQ. Unsecured IoT devices are a privileged target of hackers and unfortunately, smart energy meters belong to this category. In the UK, new smart energy meters that are set to be installed in […]

Pierluigi Paganini February 23, 2018
OMG botnet, the first Mirai variant that sets up proxy servers on vulnerable devices

Researchers at Fortinet have discovered the OMG botnet, the first Mirai variant that sets up proxy servers on the compromised IoT devices. A new variant of the infamous Mirai botnet appeared in the threat landscape, it was discovered by researchers at Fortinet that referred it as OMG because of strings containing “OOMGA” in the configuration table. […]

Pierluigi Paganini February 14, 2018
DoubleDoor, a new IoT Botnet bypasses firewall using two backdoor exploits

Security researchers spotted a new IoT botnet dubbed DoubleDoor that is able to bypass firewall as well as modem security using two backdoor exploits. IoT devices continue to be a privileged target of cyber criminals, cyber attackers against so-called smart objects has seen a rapid evolution. Security researchers at NewSky Security (NewSky Security) have detected a new IoT botnet […]