6
How to own the internet
W - took down websites including Netflix,
Amazon, and Twitter, the attackers included kettles, fridges, and
toasters. During 2016, a piece of software called ‘Mirai’ had infected
thousands of smart household devices worldwide. These items
increasingly allow users to control things like temperature via online
apps, creating connections that are vulnerable to infection. Once
infected with Mirai, the devices had formed a vast network of bots,
creating a powerful online weapon.[1]
On 21 October that year, the world discovered that the weapon
had been fired. The hackers behind the botnet had chosen to target
Dyn, a popular domain name system. These systems are crucial for
navigating the web. They convert familiar web addresses – like
Amazon.com – into a numeric IP address that tells your computer
where to find the site on the web. Think of it like a phonebook for
websites. The Mirai bots attacked Dyn by flooding it with
unnecessary requests, bringing the system to a halt. Because Dyn
provides details for several high profile websites, it meant people’s
computers no longer knew how to access them.
Systems like Dyn handle a lot of requests every day without
problems, so it takes a massive effort to overwhelm them. That effort
came from the sheer scale of the Mirai network. Mirai was able to
pull off its attack – one of the largest in history – because the
software wasn’t infecting the usual culprits. Trad itionally, botnets
have consisted of computers or internet routers, but Mirai had
spread through the ‘internet of things’; as well as kitchenware, it had
infected devices like smart TVs and baby monitors. These items
have a clear advantage when it comes to organising mass cyber-
attacks: people turn off their computers at night, but often leave other
electronics on. ‘Mirai was an insane amount of firepower,’ one FBI
agent later told Wired magazine.[2]