It is widely known that cybercriminals are populating botnets with easily exploitable Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as security cameras, webcams and DVRs. With the proliferation of IoT devices accelerating significantly — expected to account for more than two-thirds of the 34 billion internet-connected devices projected by 2020 — it is vital that organizations and consumers look to implement IoT security best practices to combat these evolving threats.

Read this exclusive IBM X-Force report to learn:

  • How DDoS attacks and botnets such as Mirai can wreak havoc on networks and compromise sensitive data;
  • What other malicious purposes thingbots, or weaponized IoT devices, serve besides botnet DDoS attacks; and
  • What consumers and businesses can do to prevent their IoT devices from becoming part of a botnet.

Download the complete report: Weaponizing the Internet of Things

More from Advanced Threats

A spotlight on Akira ransomware from X-Force Incident Response and Threat Intelligence

7 min read - This article was made possible thanks to contributions from Aaron Gdanski.IBM X-Force Incident Response and Threat Intelligence teams have investigated several Akira ransomware attacks since this threat actor group emerged in March 2023. This blog will share X-Force’s unique perspective on Akira gained while observing the threat actors behind this ransomware, including commands used to deploy the ransomware, active exploitation of CVE-2023-20269 and analysis of the ransomware binary.The Akira ransomware group has gained notoriety in the current cybersecurity landscape, underscored…

Hive0051 goes all in with a triple threat

13 min read - As of April 2024, IBM X-Force is tracking new waves of Russian state-sponsored Hive0051 (aka UAC-0010, Gamaredon) activity featuring new iterations of Gamma malware first observed in November 2023. These discoveries follow late October 2023 findings, detailing Hive0051's use of a novel multi-channel method of rapidly rotating C2 infrastructure (DNS Fluxing) to deliver new Gamma malware variants, facilitating more than a thousand infections in a single day. An examination of a sample of the lures associated with the ongoing activity reveals…

GootBot – Gootloader’s new approach to post-exploitation

8 min read - IBM X-Force discovered a new variant of Gootloader — the "GootBot" implant — which facilitates stealthy lateral movement and makes detection and blocking of Gootloader campaigns more difficult within enterprise environments. X-Force observed these campaigns leveraging SEO poisoning, wagering on unsuspecting victims' search activity, which we analyze further in the blog. The Gootloader group’s introduction of their own custom bot into the late stages of their attack chain is an attempt to avoid detections when using off-the-shelf tools for C2…

Topic updates

Get email updates and stay ahead of the latest threats to the security landscape, thought leadership and research.
Subscribe today