‘Internet of things’ gives cyberattacks sting

NEW YORK — Could millions of connected cameras, thermostats and kids’ toys bring the internet to its knees? It’s beginning to look that way.

On Friday, epic cyberattacks crippled a major internet firm, disrupting the availability of popular websites across the United States.

The hacker group claiming responsibility says that the day’s antics were just a dry run and that it has its sights set on a much bigger target. And the attackers now have a secret weapon in the array of internetenabled household devices they can subvert and use to wreak havoc.

Manchester, N.H.-based Dyn Inc. said its server infrastructure was hit by distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attacks.

These work by overwhelming targeted machines with junk data traffic. The attack temporarily blocked access to popular websites such as Twitter, Netflix and PayPal.

Members of a group that calls itself New World Hackers claimed responsibility for the attack via Twitter, though that claim could not be verified.

They said they organized networks of connected devices to create a massive botnet that threw 1.2 trillion bits of data every second at Dyn’s servers.

If the hackers’ claims are true, Friday’s attacks take DDoS to a new level.

According to a report from the cybersecurity firm Verisign, the largest DDoS attack perpetrated during the second quarter of this year peaked at just 256 billion bits per second.

Lance Cottrell, chief scientist for the cybersecurity firm Ntrepid, said DDoS attacks have become very popular in recent months, thanks to the proliferation of “internet of things” devices ranging from connected thermostats to security cameras and smart TVs.

Many of those devices feature little in the way of security, making them easy targets for hackers.

The average North American home now contains 13 internet-connected devices, according to the research firm IHS Markit.

Since the attacks usually don’t harm the electronics companies that build the devices, companies have little incentive to boost security, Cottrell said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is monitoring the situation, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Friday.