Dyn DDoS attacks trigger investigation into IoT security

Oct 30, 2016 22:50 GMT  ·  By

US Senator Mark Warner of Virginia has sent a letter to three US government agencies asking for answers for the recent security crisis affecting the Internet of Things market, which is indirectly putting other industry verticals at risk as well.

The Senator, who is a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and co-founder of the bipartisan Senate Cybersecurity Caucus, has sent his letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Homeland Security’s National Cybersecurity & Communications Integration Center (NCCIC).

In his letter, available in full below, Senator Warner is asking the agencies nine questions in relation to the poor security practices employed by IoT manufacturers.

The Senator was alerted to these issues by the recent DDoS attacks on managed DNS provider Dyn, which brought down a large chunk of the Internet on October 21 and 22.

The letter specifically mentions the effects of the Mirai malware and its botnet and points to the IoT sector's possible growth to an estimated 38.5 billion devices, which might be the perfect breeding ground for future Mirai-like botnets.

The Senator wants these agencies to come up with answers and possible solutions to how better secure these devices, answers which he and other senators might use as a basis for future legislation.