INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
During the first half of 2018, malware designed specifically for Internet of Things (IoT) devices grew three-fold with over 120,000
modifications of malware according to new research from Kaspersky Lab.The security firm's IoT report revealed that the growth of malware
families for smart devices is snowballing and part of a dangerous trend that could leave consumer devices vulnerable to illegal activity
including cryptocurrency mining, DDoS attacks or being used in large scale attacks by becoming part of a botnet.Kaspersky Lab is well aware
of these threats and the company has set up its own decoy devices called honeypots to lure cybercriminals and analyse their activities
online.According to the statistics, the most popular method of spreading IoT malware is still brute forcing passwords where hackers
repetitively try various password combinations before eventually gaining access to a device
Brute forcing was used in 93 per cent of attacks while well-known exploits were used in the remaining cases.Kaspersky Lab's honeypots were
attacked most often by routers with 60 per cent of attacks coming from them
The remaining attacks were carried out by a variety of devices including DVRs and printers
Surprisingly, 33 attacks were carried out by connected washing machines.Why target IoT devicesCybercriminals may have different reasons for
exploiting IoT devices but the most popular reason was to create botnets which would be used to facilitate DDoS attacks
Some of the malware modifications discovered by Kaspersky Lab were even tailored to disable competing malware.Principal Security Researcher
security of devices currently on the market, it will be a while before old, vulnerable devices have been phased out of our homes
In addition, IoT malware families are rapidly being customised and developed, and while previously exploited breaches have not been fixed,
criminals are constantly discovering new ones
IoT products have therefore become an easy target for cybercriminals, who can turn simple machines into powerful devices for illegal
