"Kimwolf" Botnet Spreads

The cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs writes an excellent blog called KrebsOnSecurity that details his deep dives into the underbelly of the internet. His detailed analyses of the source of internet-based viruses and their creators are often quite technical, but last week's post caught my attention and something that might have relevance to our readers. In a post titled "The Kimwolf Botnet is Stalking Your Local Network", Mr. Krebs highlights a new and virulent virus that infects not just internet-facing devices like routers, but also the internal devices behind it like our smart home devices. This particular virus often spreads through malware loaded on or enabled by cheap smart TV boxes, many of which "are advertised as a way to stream certain types of subscription video content for free." The botnet can then be used by criminals to take down websites with an enormous flood of data generated by the infected devices. One of the main reasons I'm including this blog post in our newsletter is that a security company, Synthient, also researching the botnet has created a simple webpage that will let you know if your home or business has an infected device (based on your IP address). It's worth spending a few seconds clicking on the link above to confirm you aren't an unwitting accomplice to the Kimwolf botnet.