MONROVIA: A massive cyber attack targeting Liberia’s single broadband link has taken the country’s internet intermittently offline for the last week, web security experts said Friday. The characteristics of the attack point to the same type of cyber weapon that crippled several major websites based in the United States in late October. Using software called “Mirai“, hackers deployed a network of infected computers known only as “Botnet 14” to repeatedly overload the country’s broadband network, taking Liberia offline for minutes at a time, internet security expert Kevin Beaumont told AFP. “There is only one internet link to the country for broadband, so it might be the ideal test bed for attacks,” he said. The vast majority of Liberia’s internet users access the web via their smartphone, meaning they are unaffected by a targeted attack on broadband services.

Source: New Strait Times November 04, 2016 15:33 UTC