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Hackers have released the source code for Mirai, an Internet of Things (IoT) botnet that was recently used in a well-publicized attack on security researcher Brian Krebs’s website KrebsOnSecurity. The code, available through Hackforums, makes it easy for cybercriminals to create botnets based on insecure IoT devices, including DVRs and video cameras. The hacker who posted the code said Mirai has been used to create botnets with 380,000 devices.
Last week, hackers used Mirai to launch a record-setting 700 gigabit-per-second distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack against KrebsOnSecurity.com. Combating the attack was so expensive that it would have shut the website down except for the intervention of Google’s Project Shield, which was specifically set up to protect journalists and others from these types of attacks. The DDoS attack was reportedly in response to an article Krebs wrote about Israeli hackers.
