What is an IoT Botnet Attack? How to Prevent It?

The interconnectivity between everyday devices achieved through Internet of Things (IoT) technology creates insights to improve our living conditions and increase efficiency. But this also has its downsides, including IoT botnet attacks.

There is no doubt that IoT attacks are dangerous, especially when many devices share the same network, so the focus should be on how to prevent these attacks.

Table of Contents

• What is an IoT botnet attack?
• How do IoT botnet attacks work?
  • Identify weaknesses in the target
  • Connect device to server
  • Execute the desired attack
• Common forms of IoT botnet attacks
  • Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attack
  • Brute Force Attack
  • Phishing
  • Sniffing
• How to Prevent IoT Botnet Attacks
  • Disable inactive apps
  • Using a Virtual Private Network
  • Use stronger passwords
  • Update device

What is an IoT botnet attack?

Cybercriminals carry out IoT botnet attacks by infecting computer networks with malware to compromise IoT devices. Once they gain remote access and control over the infected devices, hackers carry out a variety of illegal activities.

IoT botnet attacks are a numbers game. The more connected devices, the greater the impact on targeted systems. The goal is to cause data breaches through traffic chaos.

How do IoT botnet attacks work?

IoT botnet attacks target Internet-connected devices like smartphones, smartwatches , laptops, etc. Bots can be evasive. They remain hidden until the actors trigger a specific action.

A typical IoT botnet attack plays out in a number of ways.

Identify weaknesses in the target

The first step in an IoT botnet attack is to find a way to get into the target device. On the surface, every application appears to be secure, but most systems have some known or unknown vulnerabilities. It depends on how hard you look. They scan for vulnerabilities until they find a weak point and exploit it to gain access.

Once a vulnerability is discovered in the system, threat actors inject malware into the system and spread it across all devices on the shared IoT network.

Connect device to server

IoT botnet attacks are not random. Attackers plan their operations and start from remote locations. The next step is to connect the devices to servers in the hackers’ control room. Once a working connection is established, they execute their plan of action.

Shared connectivity between IoT devices is beneficial to threat actors. It allows them to compromise multiple applications with a single command, saving time and resources.

Execute the desired attack

Hackers have a variety of motives when it comes to IoT botnet attacks. While stealing sensitive data is a common goal, that’s not always the case. Money is obviously the primary goal, so cybercriminals may take over your system and demand a ransom before they’ll restore your access. But there’s no guarantee they’ll give it back.

Common forms of IoT botnet attacks

There are several cyber attack methods that are suitable for IoT botnet attacks. These are the techniques that threat actors commonly use.

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attack

A distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack is the process of sending a large amount of traffic to a system with the intent of causing downtime. The traffic is not coming from users, but from compromised computer networks. If threat actors compromise your IoT devices, they can use it to direct traffic to their targets in a DDoS attack.

When the system receives entries that exceed its capacity, it registers a traffic congestion condition. It can no longer operate or process the valid traffic that actually needs to be accessed.

Brute Force Attack

Brute Force is the use of “forcing” to gain unauthorized access to applications by trying multiple usernames and passwords to find a match. A trial-and-error login technique, the cyber attacker collects tons of credentials and systematically runs them through your system until one is successful.

Brute Force attacks on IoT systems are automated. Intruders use digital applications to generate different login combinations and rapidly try them on the target. In addition to making random guesses, they also try valid login credentials they have obtained from other platforms through credential theft.

Phishing

Most phishing attacks take the form of email. A crook contacts you posing as a person or legitimate organization with a business offer. While many email service providers try to prevent this by redirecting messages from suspicious addresses to Spam, determined hackers will go to great lengths to ensure their messages reach your inbox. Once they have your attention, they trick you into revealing sensitive information, asking you to click on a malicious link, or opening a document infected with malware.

Sniffing

Sniffing is when someone intercepts or monitors network activities. It involves using a packet sniffer to access information while it is being transmitted. Hackers also use this method to inject malware into a system for further exploitation.

Hackers deploying IoT botnet attacks use proactive Sniffing to flood the network with traffic and inject malware into it to extract personally identifiable information or take control of your connected devices.

How to Prevent IoT Botnet Attacks

The upsides of using IoT technology often outweigh the downsides. However, you will still be concerned about botnet attacks, so how do you prevent them?

Disable inactive apps

The apps on your IoT devices create weaknesses that make them vulnerable to attack. The more apps you have, the more opportunities cybercriminals have to break in. Half the time, you don’t even use all of them!

When scanning your network for weak links, hackers can discover apps that are not working. They are useless to you and leave you vulnerable to attack. Reducing the number of apps on your connected devices is a preventative measure against related attacks.

Using a Virtual Private Network

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) provide much-needed privacy and security. Intruders can intercept your data by compromising your Internet Protocol (IP) address on your local area network (LAN) . This is possible because they can see and monitor your network.

VPNs keep your connection private and encrypt your data, making it impossible for intruders to access it. Every interaction on your device is properly secured from third parties. Hackers won't be able to determine your location, let alone intercept your network.

Use stronger passwords

Many users make it easy for hackers by creating weak passwords. Using familiar names and numbers as passwords is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. If your password is too simple, it will be easy for attackers to crack.

Make your passwords more complex by combining uppercase and lowercase letters with numbers and special characters. Learn to use phrases instead of single words. You can create the most complex passwords, but remembering them can be difficult. Using an effective password manager will solve this challenge.

Update device

Outdated security features in IoT devices leave you open to cyberattacks. If the software vendor does their part by upgrading their defenses, you can at least implement those updates.

Just update your active applications (assuming you've removed the inactive ones). That way, you don't have to worry about vulnerabilities from outdated infrastructure.

IoT devices are just like any other device when it comes to security. Use them with cybersecurity in mind, or you will be exposed to cyber threats.

Don’t get caught up in app features. Verify security features before you buy and add sensitive data. It’s easy to protect your IoT devices from cyberattacks, but you need to be proactive first.