RogersFeb 7, 2024
Jason Koebler

The smart toothbrush botnet story, as others have also pointed out, is almost certainly not real. If it is real, Fortinet needs to say something / provide some sort of evidence ASAP

https://www.404media.co/the-viral-toothbrush-ddos-botnet-story-almost-certainly-isnt-real/

The Viral Smart Toothbrush Botnet Story Is Not Real

"FortiGuard Labs has not observed Mirai or other IoT botnets target toothbrushes or similar embedded devices."

404 Media
Feb 7, 2024 at 7:47pmElk
Show threadJason KoeblerFeb 7, 2024

Confirmed this 100% isn't real, was a hypothetical scenario:

https://www.404media.co/the-viral-toothbrush-ddos-botnet-story-almost-certainly-isnt-real/

The Viral Smart Toothbrush Botnet Story Is Not Real

"FortiGuard Labs has not observed Mirai or other IoT botnets target toothbrushes or similar embedded devices."

404 Media
Show threadVissFeb 7, 2024
@jasonkoebler oh the backpedaling
Show threadJason KoeblerFeb 7, 2024
@Viss I obviously don't know what was said in the interview, but from what I can tell the original article was the writer's first time writing about cybersecurity, and was basically a service piece in a regional newspaper ... not an excuse but I can imagine how something like this may have happened. v wild it got ran with with more widely with zero details though
Show threadVissFeb 7, 2024
@jasonkoebler im not surprised. 3 million ddos toothbrushes is a snappy headline. not every journo cares enough to facrt check, heh
Show threadslyborgFeb 7, 2024
@jasonkoebler @vmstan And now AI chatbots will be retelling this imaginary tale of DDOS toothbrushes until the end of time…
Show threadAlan WolfFeb 7, 2024
@jasonkoebler “toothbrush botnet” is still my favorite phrase of the week!
Show threadGabriel NFeb 8, 2024
@jasonkoebler [begins rummaging for his toothbrush in the dustbin]
Show threadYoraFeb 7, 2024

@jasonkoebler The real joke here is that some people supposedly think this story could be real.

What a time to be alive.

Show threadskryFeb 7, 2024
@Yora @jasonkoebler TBF, the smart lightbulb botnet still has us all on edge.
Show threadTHIS ACCOUNT HAS MOVEDFeb 7, 2024
@jasonkoebler was their stock bump real?
Show threadJared RimerFeb 8, 2024
@jasonkoebler Even though i blogged that toothbrush story, I asked questions like "Is there such a thing as a java operating system?" Java only updates one way and I know nobody using it. That ... was one interesting story. Cybernews picked it up, but i read the tom's hardware story and I had questions. http://jaredtech.help and you can find it.
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