A group of security researchers released a warning that millions of smart toothbrushes, or any other IoT products, can be used in a massive cyberattack when hacked.
The report says that millions of internet-connected toothbrushes can be linked together, which will enable hackers to do a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, which can overload websites and servers that handle huge web traffic.
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It will target major websites that, when paralyzed, can cause millions of lost revenue.
The said report was initially thought of as an incident that already happened, however, due to a translation error, Fortinet clarified that it was a hypothetical scenario.
“The topic of toothbrushes being used for DDoS attacks was presented during an interview as an illustration of a given type of attack, and it is not based on research from Fortinet or FortiGuard Labs,” the firm said.
That said, more than toothbrushes, Fortinet warned that other smart IoT products can be also used for the exploit. That includes smart doorbells, baby monitors, and other internet-connected devices.
“Every device that is connected to the Internet is a potential target – or can be misused for an attack,” said Fortinet Switzerland’s Stefan Züger. The systems technology head advised users to take measures to protect themselves.
Via: Independent