Internet-connected smart toothbrushes are now quite popular on the market, designed to monitor and improve users' oral hygiene habits.
DDoS is a type of denial-of-service attack that sends a massive number of requests to the target system, overwhelming and paralyzing it. This attack method has been around for a long time but remains a popular choice for cybercriminals due to its ease of deployment and the difficulty in leaving a trace.
Cybersecurity experts at Fortinet (USA) claim that hackers have taken control of and turned 3 million smart toothbrushes into "zombie devices," using them to launch a DDoS attack on the website of a Swiss-based company.
Approximately 3 million smart toothbrushes have been infected with malware. (Illustrative image: ZDNet)
As a result, the website succumbed to the overload and completely shut down, causing estimated losses of tens of millions of euros.
Details of the attack and the names of the toothbrush models compromised by the hackers have not yet been released, according to ZDNet.
"The tactic of hackers deploying smart toothbrushes to participate in botnets is a new one. Smart toothbrushes are internet-connected, and therefore can also be infected with malware. Their operating systems run on Java, one of the platforms with weak security and not regularly updated," explains Stefan Züger, senior security expert at Fortinet.
The expert also warned that not only smart toothbrushes but also routers, set-top boxes, surveillance cameras, doorbells, Wi-Fi connected washing machines, etc., are all targets for malware infection. This is because these devices are becoming increasingly common, but their security is not given the same attention as smartphones or computers. Furthermore, they are easily compromised due to the lack of regular security patch updates.
"Every internet-connected device is a potential target for hackers. Malicious actors are constantly probing these devices for vulnerabilities to spread malware. There will be a real race between software manufacturers and cybercriminals in the near future," added expert Züger.
Cybersecurity experts predict that with the widespread adoption of 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT), hackers could control millions of routers, security cameras, doorbells, and other devices, creating large botnets to carry out more DDoS attacks in the future.
Source: https://nld.com.vn/chieu-doc-danh-sap-trang-web-bang-ban-chai-danh-rang-196240209140523356.htm
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