The basic pattern of a DDoS attack is nothing new: an attacker uses malware to recruit internet-connected computers into a globe-girdling robot army, which upon command overwhelm their target with unwanted requests. What\u2019s changing is the tremendous growth in the Internet of Things, or IOT<\/span>, the devices \u2014 from PCs to home routers to smart refrigerators \u2014 that we attach to the net. Far too many of these are installed with widely known factory-default passwords or other vulnerabilities, making them easy recruits for bot\u00a0armies.<\/p>\n \u201cThe volume of DDoS attacks has more than doubled over the last 18 months. It\u2019s now approaching 650 gigabytes a second. That\u2019s only possible because they\u2019ve been recruiting IOT<\/span> devices,\u201d said one government official with direct knowledge of the attack. \u201cWe need to have a deliberative conversation about baking in security as much as possible into Internet of Things\u00a0devices.\u201d<\/p>\n On Friday, at a signal from an as-yet-unknown party, thousands of internet-connected devices began sending waves of data at Dyn<\/a>, one of the domain name server, or DNS<\/span>, companies that link the internet\u2019s backbone to the human-readable web. Hundreds of websites<\/a>, including Twitter, the New York Times<\/em>, Reddit and Amazon, went down for\u00a0hours.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"The](\"http:\/\/cdn.defenseone.com\/media\/img\/upload\/2016\/10\/22\/Screenshot_2016-10-21_23.10.02\/defense-large.png\" "\\"The")
Like poor John Hurt\u2019s character in <\/strong>Alien<\/em><\/a>, the internet is infected with a monster that turned on its host. Instead of using the network to send propaganda videos, or dump emails, or destroy centrifuges, Friday\u2019s attack harnessed<\/a> thousands of connected devices to take down parts of the internet\u00a0itself.<\/p>\n