Mobile DDoS headaches could lie ahead for online gambling operators

Online gambling operators are warned that they could face an augmented Distributed Denial of Services (DDoS) threat in the future following the news that a new Android botnet dubbed WireX was recently able to take over 70,000 mobile devices in 100 countries to mount criminal DDoS attacks.

The Google Play app store was obliged to purge around 300 apps suspected of being tainted by the malware following a series of attacks, some of which included demands for ransom from the targets.

The infected products escaped undetected until the attacks commenced in August this year because the WireX malware was deeply embedded in everyday apps offering ringtones and the like.

These normally harmless apps run in the background, waiting to be mobilised by the botnet for DDoS assaults, in which targets are taken offline by an avalanche of data that overwhelms the servers.