News broke out of a malware called BrickerBot that is new type of bricker virus that It takes control of IoT devices with vulnerabilities to disable them.
Report by NetworkWorld magazine has indicated that the malware is also known as BrickerBot. The virus can attack a variety of IoT devices with vulnerabilities in them and it doesn’t matter what type are the devices – dishwashers, freezers, refrigerators, IP cameras and even cars and car accessories can become victims of BrickerBot.
So far, nobody has been arrested for bricking a device, primarily because of many flaws in IoT devices and the fact that some of those are sold without any warranty in the event of security breaches whatsoever.
And when we throw in combination to this menace the usually uninformed users of those devices, most of who are unaware how to properly operate with their firmware, it makes for a perfect recipe for such type of attacks. And it is not because updating firmware applying security patches is difficult, but most of all because users do not tend to have the priority to perform such maintenance.
In addition to this, news reports have also indicated of a potential scenario concerning IoT devices within vehicles, which is quite shocking, because if such risk is exploited, some vehicles may not be prepared properly in such events and scenarios and this may result in negative outcomes, varying from locking car doors to switching gears and shutting down the engine. In addition to this, malware developers can go as far as attack the devices in your cars to even set up a ransomware infection, denying access to your car in case you conduct a ransom payoff. And if we combine this with a massive botnet with the scale of Mirai, configured to brick devices, one likely scenario si even lethal accidents occurring as a result of this.
The Bottom Line
As a conclusion there is not much to be said, except that more attention should be focused on vulnerabilities. Unfortunately, cyber-security involves a lot of investments, especially when it comes to zero-day exploits, bugs and vulnerabilities and their discovery.
Ventsislav Krastev
Ventsislav is a cybersecurity expert at SensorsTechForum since 2015. He has been researching, covering, helping victims with the latest malware infections plus testing and reviewing software and the newest tech developments. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for learning new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management, Network Administration and Computer Administration of System Applications, he found his true calling within the cybersecrurity industry and is a strong believer in the education of every user towards online safety and security.
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