Silex Malware has bricked more than 4,000 IoT Devices

At the very least, around 4,000 Internet of Things devices were graveled due to new malware, namely, Silex. The most enticing part of the malware is that a 14-year-old hacker is responsible for unleashing the malware. Larry Cashdollar, the Sr. Intelligence respondent, was the first person to discover the malware which is lurking across the IoT devices for a long time now.

Cashdollar also said that the malware is quite similar to the robust 2017 malware with taking control of the connected devices, namely, Brickerbot. Back in 2017, Bricketbot targeted a specific set of Internet of Things devices. The most common ground of these devices was that it ran on Unix or Linux OS. One of the most peculiar features of some of the IoT devices that run with Linux and Unix OS is that they are prone to have guessable pre-set passwords.

The working principle of Silex is a little different than the conventional and outdated Bricketbot. Silex utilizes the standard insecure logins for destroying the storage of the device. Silex also removes the configuration of the network and turn them into mere paperweights.

According to Cashdollar's recent conversation with Threatpost, Cashdollar did make contact with the hacker through Twitter. The young hacker said that the entire goal was to remove the vulnerability of the Internet of Things devices. Furthermore, this would help to protect the affected IoT devices in preventing significant other hackers and use them in the creation of botnet. Nevertheless, at a point in time, the control center & the command center also did vanish out of the blue.

Cashdollar also clarified that the person who came up with this malware was not expecting a vast amount of attention from across the world. The attention made him very nervous, and hence, the hacker had a change of heart and didn't spread the malware. Instead, the hacker made the malware much more destructive than it already is.

**This post was published on https://www.rtinsights.com