Will IoT botnets catapult the industry toward security regulation? [source: helpnetsecurity]

Attackers demonstrated the power of an IoT-fueled botnet in 2016 when the Mirai botnet took down major websites like Reddit, Twitter and GitHub. Despite the damages, no significant changes to the IoT industry occurred. As a matter of fact, consumers continue to purchase and deploy IoT devices with little care outside the guarantee that the device works and the price tag is cheap. Manufacturers continue to pump out new IoT devices at a rapid pace, often trading security for usability and affordability.

Without any incentive for device manufacturers to spend valuable development resources securing their products, conditions remain ripe for new IoT-fueled botnet attacks in 2018. As hackers continue to refine and improve their botnet code, I predict the next attack will be even larger than the record-shattering DDoS attack caused by Mirai and that it will create enough impact to trigger government regulation of IoT.

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