IoT attacks increased by 280% (Jan-Jun 2017) from the previous period

There are billions of IoT devices present in the world, which can be hacked easily. Gartner predicts that by the year 2020, more than 50% of systems and business processes will include an IoT component. Businesses, offices, and homes filled with IoT devices have more chances of being attacked than ever.

On Wednesday, F5 Labs released its report on global IoT risks-The Hunt for IoT: The Rise of Thingbots. The report examined how IoT devices have been attacked through botnets. Recent reports say that there is a 280% rise in the IoT security attacks from the previous reporting period. This enormous growth is mainly because of subsequent attacks and Mirai malware.

The report declares that 83% of all attacks on IoT devices came from single hosting provider i.e SoloGigabit, Spain. 93% of these attacks took place in January and February, while the activity declined gradually in March through June.

"We believe this is direct threat actor activity building a Thingbot verse compromised IoT devices unwittingly launching attacks," the report stated. "This raises big questions about who is responsible and how it should be regulated."

China, the number one attacking country, declined significantly, contributing only 1% of the total attack volume. "Now is the time to act on behalf of your business before another Death Star-sized attack is launched," said F5 Labs researchers.

F5 Labs suggested that organizations can protect themselves by implementing credential stuffing solutions, having knowledge of IoT DDoS attacks, educating employees about the possible dangers of IoT devices and how to use them safely and ensuring redundancy for critical services.