Tech Teacher

Author/Source: Brian Krebs See the full link here

Takeaway

This article warns about a new cyber threat called the KimWolf botnet that attacks devices on home and office networks. You’ll learn how it finds weak spots, takes over devices, and what it does with them.

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Technical Subject Understandability

Intermediate

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Analogy/Comparison

Imagine a clever burglar who sneaks into your house, then quietly checks every door and window for weaknesses, and once inside, uses your own tools to try and break into other rooms or even other houses.

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Why It Matters

This botnet can take control of your smart devices, like cameras or storage drives, and steal your personal information, like passwords. It can then use your hijacked devices to launch more attacks on other people, making your home network part of a bigger crime.

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Related Terms

Botnet, Malware, Local network, Brute-force attack, Backdoor, Command-and-control server. Jargon Conversion: A botnet is a collection of computers or devices controlled by a hacker. Malware is software designed to harm or secretly access a computer. A local network is all the connected devices in a home or office, like computers, phones, and smart gadgets. A brute-force attack is a method where hackers try many combinations of usernames and passwords until they find the correct one. A backdoor is a secret way to get into a computer system, bypassing normal security. A command-and-control server is a central computer that sends instructions to all the hijacked devices in a botnet.