A new Internet of Things botnet has surfaced and is targeting recently disclosed vulnerabilities in internet-connected cameras.
Dubbed Persirai, the malware was discovered by security experts at Trend Micro who found numerous infected Chinese-made wireless cameras, according to a Trend Micro blog post. The vulnerabilities in the devices were disclosed in March by security researcher Pierre Kim, who indicated that the flaw could allow an attacker to hijack the cameras.
While 1,250 Chinese-made camera models are said to contain the vulnerability, Trend Micro believes that many more are vulnerable.
“We detected approximately 120,000 IP cameras that are vulnerable to [the malware],” Trend Micro researchers said in their post. “Many of these vulnerable users are unaware that their IP Cameras are exposed to the internet.”
The latest IoT threat follows the infamous Mirai botnet which wreaked havoc on a DNS provider in 2016.
