Hacker Releases Weapons To Unleash Internet Armageddon

The internet has always been vulnerable to an ever evolving threat of hacking activities, which is why browsers and cyber security companies are always improving their own systems to fight said hackers. However, in light of what happened to a journalist after posting a report about two notorious DDoS hackers, it’s become clear that there are individuals out there that possess the capability to do enormous damage. One of these individuals has just shared hacking tools that can be used to essentially shut down any website and render security firms powerless.

When Brian Krebs decided to out two Israeli teens who were running a DDoS company, his website got attacked that shut it down for the better part of a week. As Vice’s Motherboard reports, the criminals behind the attack used over a million IoT devices and weaponized them. Now, the code to use this malware is out thanks to a hacker called “Anna-senpai.”

The code was posted on a website for hackers aptly called Hackforum and was given the name “Mirai.” The one to discover that the code is being shared with the public was none other than Krebs himself.

Most disturbing about the development is the fact that the code essentially allows any hacker to access millions of IoT devices that still have the default username and passwords. These could then be used to bombard any website with gigabytes of junk data in order to overwhelm their servers.

Ars Technica spoke to Dale Drew about the matter. Drew is a security officer at Level 3 Communications security firm and he said that “Mirai” is just one of two botnet tools that have been used to wreak havoc on the internet recently. The other is called “Bashlight” and has actually attacked more websites than “Mirai.” Now that the code is out, it’s possible that there will be a jump in attacks similar to what Krebs suffered.