100K ‘Thingbot’ Net Shows Risk Of ‘Smart’ Devices
A new report tracing the source of more than 750,000 phishing and spam messages sent turn out to come from a botnet whose thralls included more than 100,000 non-traditional computing devices, including home-networking routers, multimedia centers and at least one refrigerator
Via slashdot:
More than a quarter of the 750,000 malicious emails sent by a sophisticated botnet during the last days of 2013 were sent not by malware-addled zombie computers, but by “Thingbots”: Malware-addled zombie computers built into consumer electronics and other “smart” gadgets or appliances.
A new report found that more than 750,000 phishing and spam messages sent between Dec. 23 and Jan. 6 turned out to originate from a botnet whose thralls included more than 100,000 non-traditional computing devices, including home-networking routers, multimedia centers and at least one refrigerator, according t...