How your fridge could bring down the internet

A zombie army of the Internet of Things knocked several website offline last week. Chris Carter looks at what happened.

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Internet-enabled devices have exploded in popularity

Last Friday, some of the internet's most popular websites think Twitter, Airbnb, Spotify were disrupted due to a massive hacking attack. There was nothing particularly new in the hackers' method. Creating an overwhelming surge in traffic is known as a "distributed denial of service" (DDoS) attack, and has been around for years. Nor was there a huge amount of surprise that it had happened. Cybersecurity experts had warned for years that it was coming. What was noticeable, however, was the attack's use of the so-called "Internet of Things".

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Chris Carter
Wealth Editor, MoneyWeek

Chris Carter spent three glorious years reading English literature on the beautiful Welsh coast at Aberystwyth University. Graduating in 2005, he left for the University of York to specialise in Renaissance literature for his MA, before returning to his native Twickenham, in southwest London. He joined a Richmond-based recruitment company, where he worked with several clients, including the Queen’s bank, Coutts, as well as the super luxury, Dorchester-owned Coworth Park country house hotel, near Ascot in Berkshire.

Then, in 2011, Chris joined MoneyWeek. Initially working as part of the website production team, Chris soon rose to the lofty heights of wealth editor, overseeing MoneyWeek’s Spending It lifestyle section. Chris travels the globe in pursuit of his work, soaking up the local culture and sampling the very finest in cuisine, hotels and resorts for the magazine’s discerning readership. He also enjoys writing his fortnightly page on collectables, delving into the fascinating world of auctions and art, classic cars, coins, watches, wine and whisky investing.

You can follow Chris on Instagram.