The Janit0r motivated the attacks as a form of protest against owners of smart devices that, at the time, were constantly getting infected with the Mirai DDoS malware.
The BrickerBot author argued that it would be better if the devices were destroyed, rather than sit around as cannon fodder for DDoS botnets, and haunting the internet for years.
The Janit0r’s year-long bricking got some internet service providers to secure their networks against some attack vectors, albeit BrickerBot’s impact could never be fully quantified.
But unlike the Janit0r, Light did not offer any motive for his actions, as of now. He didn’t put out a manifesto like the Janit0r did after BrickerBot attacks began, to justify any of his actions.
As of now, all of the Silex attacks appear to have been carried out as a joke, or out of malice.
But while Light’s actions seem malicious and petty, Anubhav described the teenager as “one of the most prominent and talented IoT threat actors at the moment”
“Its impressive and at the same time sad that Light, being a minor, is utilizing his talent in an illegal way,” the researcher told ZDNet earlier today.
The bad news for Light is that unlike the BrickerBot author, who left a minimal trail of footprints that authorities could follow, Light might have made several OpSec mistakes along the way that may end up costing him in the long run.
Related malware and cybercrime coverage:
New Mac malware abuses recently disclosed Gatekeeper zero-dayHackers broke into 10 telecom companies to steal customers’ phone recordsRussian APT hacked Iranian APT’s infrastructure back in 2017Anonymous hacker exposed after dropping USB drive while throwing Molotov cocktailFree proxy service found running on top of 2,600+ hacked WordPress sitesBitfinex hackers arrested after three years More than 3B fake emails sent daily as phishing attacks persist TechRepublicGame of Thrones has the most malware of any pirated TV show CNET
Related Topics:
Internet of Things
Security TV
Data Management
CXO
Data Centers