U.S. takes aim at cyber attacks from connected devices as recalls mount

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

TECHNOLOGY NEWS | Tue Oct 25, 2016 | 5:30am EDT

U.S. takes aim at cyber attacks from connected devices as recalls mount

By Joseph Menn | SAN FRANCISCO

Obama administration officials sought on Monday to reassure the public that it was taking steps to counter new types of cyber attacks such as the one Friday that rendered Twitter, Spotify, Netflix and dozens of other major websites unavailable.

The Department of Homeland Security said it had held a conference call with 18 major communication service providers shortly after the attack began and was working to develop a new set of “strategic principles” for securing internet-connected devices.

DHS said its National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center was working with companies, law enforcement and researchers to cope with attacks made possible by the rapidly expanding number of smart gadgets that make up the "internet of Things."

Such devices, including web-connected cameras, appliances and toys, have little in the way of security. More than a million of them have been commandeered by hackers, who can direct them to take down a target site by flooding it with junk traffic.

Several networks of compromised machines were directed to attack big customers of web infrastructure company Dyn last week, Dyn officials and security researchers said.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyber-devices-idUSKCN12P047

[Foggyhill]

1. People don't even change the default passwords

Forcing them to put in a good password before they can use the device would have stopped this problem