Security News > 2024 > January > Vast botnet hijacks smart TVs for prime-time cybercrime

Security researchers have pinned a DDoS botnet that's infected potentially millions of smart TVs and set-top boxes to an eight-year-old cybercrime syndicate called Bigpanzi.

"The potential for Bigpanzi-controlled TVs and STBs to broadcast violent, terroristic, or pornographic content, or to employ increasingly convincing AI-generated videos for political propaganda, poses a significant threat to social order and stability," said researchers at Chinese security biz Qianxin.

The researchers didn't detail the history of the botnet's DDoS activity or blame it for any high-profile attacks, but to get a feel for what it's capable of, its DDoS commands are inherited from the infamous Mirai.

Work to trace Bigpanzi is still ongoing and the researchers' "Ultimate goal" is to deliver "a decisive strike against them."

The scale of the botnet was only realized when two of the nine domains used for the botnet's command and control infrastructure expired, allowing the researchers to register those domains for themselves and have a peek at how it was being run.

The criminals didn't take too kindly to the researchers hijacking their domains and responded by forcing them offline.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/01/18/bigpanzi_botnet_smart_tvs/