The Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, chaired by Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) and the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, chaired by Rep. Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), have scheduled a joint hearing for Wednesday, November 16, to probe last month’s DDoS attacks on domain system provider, Dyn.
The hearing titled, Understanding the Role of Connected Devices in Recent Cyber Attacks, will also examine the committee’s ongoing work analysing emerging cybersecurity issues. They will also seek to examine how Internet of Things (IOT) connected devices are used in cyberattacks to deny access to popular websites or otherwise disrupt online services.
The committee has a long track record of examining emerging cybersecurity threats and their impact on consumers and the economy.
“Internet connectivity remains a vital part of our economic well-being and our national security. Americans should not have to worry that the convenience and connectivity of the Internet of Things comes at the expense of the resiliency and reliability of the larger Internet,” said Walden and Burgess. “Next week’s hearing provides our members with an opportunity to learn more about the recent cyberattacks, how cyberattacks are evolving, and what can be done to mitigate future attacks and risks.”
The Mirai botnet played a major role in the cyberattacks, with hackers leveraging security vulnerabilities in devices like DVRs and cameras to launch debilitating distributed denial of service attacks on Dyn.
