After launching attacks on security expert Brian Krebs and the servers at Dyn, it appears as though the Mirai Botnet, a type of computer malware, has knocked the entire country of Liberia offline. Yes the country.  Given the paucity of protections on the Internet of Things with even weaker controls on adequate passwords, Mirai has a powerful base to co-opt and launch from.  That said a country is no mean achievement, albeit only with a population of 4.5 million and fewer than 10% of its citizens having internet access, the target was a small one. However, it is possible this attack is only the beginning for a new display of Mirai botnet’s capabilities. The attack peaked at a 500Gbps, a relatively modest figure when compared with the Dyn and Brian Krebs attacks.

Judging from the quick succession of recent attacks, we won’t be waiting long before we see another target of this highly effective botnet. Forbes has covered this in more detail here.

Rebecca Murray is co-author of this article.