We Know It’s a Botnet: The Multipass into your Enterprise Networks

Abstract:

With the recent discovery of yet another Chinese IoT botnet, I found another one disguised as a streaming device called [redacted], in 2024. This device is particularly nefarious, as it exhibits command and control traffic, targets social media and whisper campaigns, and aims directly at key individuals within “sensitive areas” with the United States.

This has highlighted a need for further research into cyber and social psychology, IoT Device Security and an urgency to assist those unfamiliar with protecting themselves against products that appear “too good to be true.”

Fast forward to 2026: An FBI PSA, the confirmation of set-top boxes as a considered vector for enterprise environments, a podcast and other fun tales of devices being in a botnet.

In this talk, I will provide research updates, talk about how we need to remove our blinders within Threat Intelligence, and have some fun stories along the way.