Botnet Fronton can launch trending disinformation campaigns
A Russian IoT botnet known as Fronton can use fake coordinated behavior to trigger disinformation trends on social media.

“Trending” on social media platforms indicates how many people are aware of what is happening in the world. There is a growing awareness not to believe everything that is posted under a certain trend – especially about developing events such as terrorist attacks – but there is always an acceptance that it is a trend because there are real people there.

IoT devices make perfect targets for botnets due to their rapid spread, often poor security, global distribution, and persistent nature. Such IoT botnets are launching record DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks. Hacktivist group Digital Revolution exposed the Fronton botnet in March 2020. The group released documents about the botnet after it claimed to have attacked a subcontractor of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.

Initial details of the botnet focused on its serious DDoS capabilities, resulting in headlines saying it could “take down the internet in a small country”. However, many have not released other documents, images, and videos that reveal their other amazing abilities.