"New Botnet Targets Android Set-Top Boxes"

Researchers at the device cybersecurity company, WootCloud, discovered a new internet-of-things (IoT) botnet, called the ARES ABD botnet. The IoT botnet targets Android set-top boxes produced by HiSilicon, Cubetek, Qezy Media, and other vendors. ARES abuses misconfigured Android Debug Bridge (ABD) interfaces on set-top-boxes. An ABD is a command-line tool used to communicate with a device in order to perform installations, debugging, and more. Set-top-boxes compromised by ARES are being used to launch additional attacks such as distributed denial-of-service attacks, cryptomining attacks, brute-force password-cracking attacks, and more, on other devices. This article continues to discuss the ARES ABD Botnet in relation to its impact, targets, and prevention, along with the frequent targeting of other computer IoT devices to build botnets. 

Dark Reading reports "New Botnet Targets Android Set-Top Boxes"