Hacking as a service, the new danger that puts the Net at risk

For some time now there has been a new trend in the world of cybersecurity: hackers prefer to sell botnets instead of using them

Imagine the Internet under continuous attack by cyber criminals. Impossible to access your favorite sites, your emails or more simply the services offered by the Net. It's not a world from a TV series but a possible reality now that a new threat is starting to circulate on the web.

According to what is reported by the technology information site Mashable, groups of hackers known by the names of Popopret and BestBuy are literally clogging up darkweb chats and forums and selling their services: DDoS attacks, botnets and all other digital tools that can be used to carry out large-scale attacks. This is the so-called hacking as a service (translatable as "cyber attacks as a service"), a new trend in the cybersecurity world: instead of using hacker resources to conduct attacks on their own, they sell them to the highest bidder and, above all, without risking themselves.

IoT effect on DDoS attacks

Part of the credit for this "nouvelle vague" in the cybersecurity field is to be attributed to Internet of Things devices. As seen on several occasions, in fact, their level of security is quite low (although there are methods to check if our home is safe) and it is easy for a hacker to take control of a large number of smart thermostats, IP security cameras and other smart home devices. So "enlisting" botnets consisting of hundreds of thousands of devices is easier than it used to be and than the average user can imagine. Never before have hackers been able to create powerful "weapons of destruction" that can then be made available to anyone who wants to buy them.

Hacker attacks within everyone's reach

Hacking as a service also exponentially increases the risk that increasingly powerful DDoS attacks can be carried out by virtually anyone. If until some time ago it was necessary to have an in-depth knowledge of computer science to carry out computer attacks of any kind, now it is sufficient to put your hands in your wallet and buy the service that best suits your needs. Prices vary according to the intensity of the attack and the size of the botnet. You can spend 50 thousand dollars for an attack of one hour up to 400 thousand dollars for a continuous offensive of two weeks, but browsing the darkweb catalog you can find small botnets at the cost of a few tens of euros.

Come difendersi dagli attacchi hacker

Cliccando sui link che seguono, invece, potrete scoprire suggerimenti, alcuni più tecnici altri più alla portata di tutti, riguardanti la sicurezza informatica e scoprire le tipologie di attacchi più comuni: dagli attacchi DDoS al phishing, passando per le botnet.

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