Firm recall webcams after confirming involvement in Dyn DDoS attack

The webcams played a role in the massive DDoS attacks on Dyn servers and now the company is recalling them.

The sophisticated DDoS attacks on Dyn servers took the world by surprise when 10s of millions of hacked IP addresses forced Internet giants like Twitter, PayPal, SoundCloud and others to go offline. Now, one by one new details about the attack is surfacing the Internet.

Also Read: Internet Connected Car Hacked and DDoSed via Smartphone

In the latest, a Chinese electronics company Hangzhou Xiongmai has acknowledged that hackers compromised its webcams and used it to conduct DDoS attacks on Dyn through the Mirai botnet that is known to be a nightmare for Internet of Things (IoT) devices with default or weak login credentials.

In a statement to BBC, Xiongmai rejected allegations that its webcams made up the bulk of the devices used in the attacks. It also said that the attackers were able to take over cameras because users did not change the default passwords of these devices yet the company has decided to recall its circuit boards and components that go into webcams.

Also Read: Hackers take over security camera; live stream girls’ bedroom on Internet

There are thousands of unprotected security and webcams in the United States ready to used by hackers to conduct further cyber-armageddon. In such circumstances, Xiongmai’s decision to recall their webcams is a drop in the bucket.

Map shows which state have more unprotected cams

Click here to see which state in the US has more unprotected cameras.

Remember, it was the Mirai botnet that played a vital role in the DDoS attack on Dyn servers. The fact that Mirai’s developer leaked its source code online also played a vital role in the rapid increase of this botnet. Last month, the same botnet was used for conducting the Internets largest ever DDoS attack of 1 Tbps on OVH hostings as well as the 665 Gbps attack on Brian Krebs blog by hacking over 145,000 webcams.

If you own a security camera or any IoT device HackRead urges you to change their default login credentials now to avoid getting your device compromised and used in further DDoS attacks.

Featured Image Via: WikiMedia