In October, we reported a story about how IoT device owners all around the world needed to be beware of Mirai, the malware, that had single-handedly been responsible for causing one of the worst distributed denial of service (DDoS) cyberattacks that the world had experienced in the last few years, and how it had now managed to spread and infect internet-connected devices in over 177 countries all around the world.
Mirai is so powerful a malware that it had successfully managed to take down Spotify, Twitter, and a number of other so-called high security websites. And since October, there has been no stopping Mirai's growing pace. But now, a new security tool has been developed that has the potential of letting IoT devices owners know if their devices are vulnerable to Mirai's vicious attack.
In the past, the malware has been used in distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. Mirai is basically works by scouting for insecure Internet of Things devices, and once that is done, it uses them as bot-nets to do its bidding. And since the malware’s source code has already been leaked, it can used by basically anyone to use/misuse.
Mirai was successful in causing massive outrage in October when it targeted Dyn, a major name in the domain name service (DNS) provider sector. The case saw Internet of Things being put to use to break the internet.
Seeing the havoc that Mirai had managed to achieve and was still causing, Imperva decided to do something about the situation and was successful in determining a way to know if the IoT devices were vulnerable to malwares like Mirai. The best thing is, one doesn't have to buy or install anything to use it -- all that one has to do is to visit the scanner website on the device that you want to check. The scanner then comes to action and analyses the IP address, smart products details used for internet access.
This is how the Mirai scanner works:
1) Initiate a scan request.
2) Once scan request is initiated, the scanner comes to action and looks for connected devices on ports 22/23.
3) The third step involves the scanner testing if a device can be accessed with passwords from Mirai's dictionary.
4) The scan results are finally furnished.
The main issue here is that the scanner can’t do much about the affected devices themselves. If during a scan, one of your connected devices comes out to be vulnerable to Mirai, an immediate step that you should take is change its login credentials from the ones set by the manufacturer by default. If somehow that isn’t possible, or if you don’t know how to do it on your own, you will have to make a quick decision on whether you intend to put your device at risk or just simply stop using it altogether.
Malware like Mirai are the reason that security experts all around the world fear the growing popularity of the Internet of Things.
Read More - https://www.incapsula.com/blog/mirai-scanner-unwitting-mirai-botnet-recruit.html
[Top Image - Shutterstock]
Mirai is so powerful a malware that it had successfully managed to take down Spotify, Twitter, and a number of other so-called high security websites. And since October, there has been no stopping Mirai's growing pace. But now, a new security tool has been developed that has the potential of letting IoT devices owners know if their devices are vulnerable to Mirai's vicious attack.
In the past, the malware has been used in distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. Mirai is basically works by scouting for insecure Internet of Things devices, and once that is done, it uses them as bot-nets to do its bidding. And since the malware’s source code has already been leaked, it can used by basically anyone to use/misuse.
Mirai was successful in causing massive outrage in October when it targeted Dyn, a major name in the domain name service (DNS) provider sector. The case saw Internet of Things being put to use to break the internet.
Seeing the havoc that Mirai had managed to achieve and was still causing, Imperva decided to do something about the situation and was successful in determining a way to know if the IoT devices were vulnerable to malwares like Mirai. The best thing is, one doesn't have to buy or install anything to use it -- all that one has to do is to visit the scanner website on the device that you want to check. The scanner then comes to action and analyses the IP address, smart products details used for internet access.
This is how the Mirai scanner works:
1) Initiate a scan request.
2) Once scan request is initiated, the scanner comes to action and looks for connected devices on ports 22/23.
3) The third step involves the scanner testing if a device can be accessed with passwords from Mirai's dictionary.
4) The scan results are finally furnished.
The main issue here is that the scanner can’t do much about the affected devices themselves. If during a scan, one of your connected devices comes out to be vulnerable to Mirai, an immediate step that you should take is change its login credentials from the ones set by the manufacturer by default. If somehow that isn’t possible, or if you don’t know how to do it on your own, you will have to make a quick decision on whether you intend to put your device at risk or just simply stop using it altogether.
Malware like Mirai are the reason that security experts all around the world fear the growing popularity of the Internet of Things.
Read More - https://www.incapsula.com/blog/mirai-scanner-unwitting-mirai-botnet-recruit.html
[Top Image - Shutterstock]
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