The Scariest Thing this Halloween Might be the ‘Reaper’ – a Botnet that’s Already Infected Over a Million Devices
It’s that time of year again for trick-or-treating and spooky stories. But what’s even scarier than tales about ghosts and goblins is the fact that a growing hacked device botnet called “Reaper” has already infected over a million webcams and routers connected to the internet…and the numbers continue to rise. These botnets are composed of numerous networks and countless computers that are infected with malicious software and controlled as a group without the owner’s knowledge. They are generally used to send email spam, take part in click fraud campaigns, and create malicious traffic for distributed denial-of-service attacks. Reaper has already infected more devices and is expected to be even worse than another massive botnet attack that occurred this time last year. This botnet automates the hacking system which makes it easier to hack devices. Makers like Linksys and Netgear whose products are more vulnerable to hacking suggest making sure that your systems are up-to-date.
