The vast number of Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices are proving to be lucrative for botnet operators to carry out various attacks – from sending spam to launching harmful distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, according to Derek Manky, Chief of Security Insights & Global Threat Alliances at Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs.
Derek Manky
Manky said he’s seen an increase in a number of botnets made up of compromised IoT devices, which can be attributed to various factors. For one, it’s harder to track down the numerous compromised connected devices behind a botnet, as they’re scattered all over, said Manky. Also, more IoT devices are cropping up worldwide – many of which are insecure, easy targets for cybercriminals to exploit.
And, while insecure IoT devices are emerging as a top threat in the botnet landscape, in the future, Manky said that companies can expect a new security challenge: Cybercriminals targeting edge computing devices.
Manky talks to Threatpost host Cody Hackett about swarm attacks, how cybercriminals are developing botnets that target edge computing devices and the proliferation of several new IoT Peer-to-Peer (P2P) botnets in this week’s sponsored podcast episode.