Attacks on the internet keep getting bigger

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Could millions of connected cameras, thermostats and kids’ toys bring the internet to its knees? It’s beginning to look that way.

On Friday, epic cyberattacks crippled a major internet firm, repeatedly disrupting the availability of popular websites across the United States. The hacker group claiming responsibility says that the day’s antics were just a dry run and that it has its sights set on a much bigger target. And the attackers now have a secret weapon in the increasing array of internet-enabled household devices they can subvert and use to wreak havoc.

MEET THE FIRE HOSE

Manchester, N.H.-based Dyn Inc. said its server infrastructure was hit by distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attacks. These work by overwhelming targeted machines with junk data traffic – sort of like knocking someone over by blasting them with a fire hose. The attack temporarily blocked some access to popular websites from across America and Europe such as Twitter, Netflix and PayPal.

Members of a shadowy hacker group that calls itself New World Hackers claimed responsibility for the attack via Twitter, though that claim could not be verified. They said they organized networks of connected devices to create a massive botnet that threw a monstrous 1.2 trillion bits of data every second at Dyn’s servers.

MAKE THAT, MANY FIRE HOSES

DDoS attacks have been growing in frequency and size in recent months. But if the hackers’ claims are true, Friday’s attacks take DDoS to a new level. According to a report from the cybersecurity firm Verisign, the largest DDoS attack perpetrated during that second quarter of this year peaked at just 256 billion bits per second.

WHAT’S BEHIND THE ATTACKS

Like with other online attacks, the motivation behind DDoS attacks is usually mischief or money. Attackers have shut down websites in the past to make political statements. DDoS attacks have also been used in extortion attempts, something that’s been made easier by the advent of Bitcoin.

For its part, a member of New World Hackers who goes by the name “Prophet,” told an AP reporter via Twitter direct message that collective isn’t motivated by money and doesn’t have anything personal against Dyn, Twitter or any of the other sites. Instead, the hacker said, the attacks were merely a test, and claimed that the next target will be the Russian government for committing purported cyberattacks against the U.S. earlier this year.