Back on the topic of IoT (sorta).
http://www.engadget.com/2015/10/25/cctv-camera-botnet/
Closed-circuit security cameras are supposed to make you safer, but some malware is turning them into weapons. Researchers at Incapsula have discovered code that turned about 900 Linux-based CCTV cameras into a botnet, which promptly bombarded an unnamed “large cloud service” that serves millions of people.
In short, people had unsecured cameras on the Internet, which, surprise, got a tiny bit of extra code added to them. When that code was activated, the camera would either Ping, or poll a specific website.
The sum of all those cameras adds up to a whole lot of extra pointless traffic for that web site and so people who try and visit the site get a slow or down experience.
That is called a denial of service. People who need to use the site are denied.
(It is probably another blog for another time, but you can buy these sorts of attacks if you are so inclined).
Bottom line, I am not surprised to read about this sort of thing going on.
A camera is a ‘Thing’, it is connected to the Internet (all though not always), unless it is secured (and hardened) it is in a dangerous place.
We need to take control and think about just adding IoT into the mix just because we can.
