Millions of Android Powered TVs and Streaming Devices Infected by Kimwolf Botnet

Synthient discovers over 2 million Android TV boxes and smart TVs hijacked by the Kimwolf botnet. Learn how hackers are using home devices to launch DDoS attacks and how you can protect your home network.

A massive global network of infected gadgets, Aisuru DDoS Botnet‘s Android variant dubbed Kimwolf, has grown to over 2 million devices since last August, reveals the latest research from the anti-fraud intelligence company Synthient.

Reportedly, hackers are hunting for Android-powered smart TVs and cheap streaming boxes to build a botnet (a private army of infected devices) that they can control remotely and launch Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks. The combined power of these devices has been used to flood and crash major websites with traffic, reaching a record-breaking 29.7 Terabits per second, as per Cloudflare.

The Pre-Infected Trap

What makes this threat particularly tricky is how the devices get infected in the first place ...