And on October 1, an anonymous developer posted source code online that allowed anyone to string a similar kind of botnet together. Krebs wrote that releasing that software, called Mirai, “virtually [guaranteed] that the Internet will soon be flooded with attacks from many new botnets powered by insecure routers, IP cameras, digital video recorders and other easily hackable devices.”
.. Sometimes a retribution-style attack can follow a presentation of this type... Last month, Schneier argued in Motherboard that the government must regulate internet-of-things cybersecurity. “The market can’t fix this because neither the buyer nor the seller cares,” he wrote:The government could impose security regulations on [internet of things] manufacturers, forcing them to make their devices secure even though their customers don’t care. They could impose liabilities on manufacturers, allowing people like Brian Krebs to sue them. Any of these would raise the cost of insecurity and give companies incentives to spend money making their devices secure.
Internet Attack Disrupts Major Websites
Dyn is one of a number of outfits that host the Domain Name System, or DNS, which functions as a switchboard for the internet. The DNS translates user-friendly web addresses like fbi.gov into numerical addresses that allow computers to speak to one another. Without the DNS servers operated by internet service providers, the internet could not operate.