If you woke up on October 21 and realized that you couldn’t access any of your favorite websites, take comfort in the fact that you were not alone. Dyn, a company that controls huge portions of the domain name system (DNS) infrastructure that allows the Internet to function, was hit by a massive Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack that day, sending shockwaves around the world.
Unfortunately, the Dyn DDoS attack was unlike any other of its type in recorded history. It has significant implications not only on the present-day Internet but also on the future of concepts like the Internet of Things for a number of important reasons.
The Dyn DDoS Attack: What Happened?
The Dyn DDoS attack is significant for a number of unique reasons. Not only did it include over 100,000 malicious endpoints, but it was also the strongest DDoS attack of its type in history – by a great deal. Experts report an attack strength of 1.2 Tbps, or roughly twice as powerful as any similar attack on record.
The attack was also significant for its length. Dyn was flooded with so much traffic that popular sites like the Guardian, Netflix, Reddit and more were offline for most of the day in both Europe and the United States. While a typical DDoS attack is powerful, once the source of the attack is identified and isolated most affected websites come back online in a matter of hours.
What This Means
The real point from the Dyn DDoS attack has to do with the idea that it wasn’t necessarily the “show of force” that some people are making it out to be. It was a proof of concept – a test case to see if an attack of this type could be carried out in this size and with this specific technique.
Now that it has been proven to work effectively, it lays the groundwork for future attacks that will likely grow both in frequency and in severity.
What the Future Holds
Make no mistake about it: the Dyn DDoS attack is a significant point in the history of the Internet. Not only are attacks like this likely going to become more common now that they’ve been proven to work, but it also has significant implications for the Internet of Things (IoT). As IoT devices grow in numbers, the probability that their use in future (and more powerful) DDoS attacks becomes just as likely.
None of this is to say that businesses or even personal users should eschew advancements like the Internet of Things due to the security concerns they bring with them. Far from it: the benefits far outweigh the positives in many cases. This will just serve as yet another warning that technology is inherently vulnerable and staying ahead of cyber criminals is and will always be something that requires a proactive approach.
Key Takeaways:
In October of 2016, a botnet executed a DDoS attack on Dyn, taking huge portions of the Internet down for long periods of time.
The implication is not only that this type of attack will become more common in the future, but that the Internet of Things will also continue to be exploited.
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