500,000 Network Devices Inflected By Malware (Update)

500,000 Network Devices Inflected By Malware

Who is behind this attacks?

Advanced VPNFilter malware menacing routers worldwide
Malware with bricking capabilities poses major threat after infecting 500,000+ networking devices

Are these attacks from state backed, criminal groups or individuals? Some of the above reports claim to be state backed, notably Russia. One of the report claims that it is very difficult to pin point who is behind this but posted a picture as shown:

www.theregister.co.uk

Researchers have "no idea" who is behind the attack, and obviously Putin is not a researcher. Placing this caption and Putin image together is not a subtle programming of the readers' mind. And this news writing tactic is an attack, among the more obvious fake news, on the readers.

We do not know who are the attackers behind this malware. We do know whoever is behind this have the technical and operational skill to find this vulnerability, turn it into an malware, spread the malware to multiple network devices. More importantly, the attackers also have the business acumen to understand this vulnerability will not be hidden for long and the value of this knowledge is diminishing over time. Pushing the malware to the open this early will leave a huge footprint for investigators to eventually pick it out. Thus the attackers are probably going for quick success with this malware. Or worse, using this compromised network to insert a more stealthy malware into the actual targets.

(Update) FBI: Reboot, reset your router immediately to prevent cyberattacks

Follow us on all critical Android development and security news here.