Chinese Company Recalls Cameras, DVRs Used In Last Week's Massive DDoS Attack

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the internet-of-broken-things dept

For some time now, security researchers have been warning that our lackadaisical approach to Internet of Things security would soon be coming home to roost. Initially it was kind of funny to read how “smart” fridges, tea kettles and Barbie dolls did an arguably worse job than their dumb counterparts with a greater risk to privacy and security. But as we collectively realized that these devices not only created millions of new home and business attack vectors, but could also be used to wage historically-unprecedented DDoS attacks, things quickly became less amusing.

Last week, the theoretical became very real with the massive attack on DNS provider DYN, which knocked a swath of companies and services off the internet for a large portion of Friday. In a piece discussing the attack over at Flashpoint, the security firm (which worked with Akamai to help DYN) notes that the DDoS was indeed thanks to compromised IoT devices, and the Mirai botnet malware recently released to make compromising and harnessing such devices easier than ever. But the group also notes that targeted devices included everything from cameras to… your cable DVR:

“Mirai malware targets Internet of Things (IoT) devices like routers, digital video records (DVRs), and webcams/security cameras, enslaving vast numbers of these devices into a botnet, which is then used to conduct DDoS attacks. Flashpoint has confirmed that at least some of the devices used in the Dyn DNS attacks are DVRs, further matching the technical indicators and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) associated with previous known Mirai botnet attacks.”

Brian Krebs notes that the lion’s share of these devices were manufactured by a Chinese company named XiongMai Technologies, which almost instantly found a huge swath of its product line contributing to the attack:

“It?s remarkable that virtually an entire company?s product line has just been turned into a botnet that is now attacking the United States,? Nixon said, noting that Flashpoint hasn?t ruled out the possibility of multiple botnets being involved in the attack on Dyn. At least one Mirai [control server] issued an attack command to hit Dyn,? Nixon said. ?Some people are theorizing that there were multiple botnets involved here. What we can say is that we?ve seen a Mirai botnet participating in the attack.”

For what it’s worth, XiongMai was quick to issue a statement announcing that it would be recalling some of its products (mostly webcams), while strengthening password functions (Mirai often depends on default usernames and passwords) and sending users a patch for products made before April of last year. It also issued a poorly translated statement on its role in bringing the U.S. Internet to a crawl for much of Friday:

“Security issues are a problem facing all mankind. Since industry giants have experienced them, Xiongmai is not afraid to experience them once, too,” the company statement said.

And while that’s all well and good, that’s just one company. There are dozens upon dozens of companies and “IoT evangelists” that refuse to acknowledge that they put hype and personal profit ahead of security, by proxy putting the entire internet at risk. Not only do most of these devices lack even the most fundamental security, they usually provide no functionality to help users determine if they’re generating traffic or participating in attacks. And these devices are often sitting behind consumer-grade routers on the network that have equally flimsy security while using default username and password combinations.

So while it’s nice to see at least one company almost admit culpability, this really is little more than a small drop in a very deep ocean of dysfunction. It’s going to take a lot more naming and shaming of the companies that pushed “smart” but idiotic and poorly-secured technologies on consumers if we’re to avoid significantly worse (and potentially fatal) attacks.

Filed Under: botnet, cameras, china, ddos, dvrs, mirai, recall
Companies: dyn, xiongmai