'The internet will shut down for 24 hours worldwide'

COLORADO: Internet in the entire world could be shut down for 24 hours by a full-scale DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack, predicted US technology security vendor LogRhythm.

Chief information security officer and vice president LogRhythm, James Carder, says the the cause will not simply be a technical glitch that stops internet users uploading selfies on Instagram. “It’s going to be a large-scale cyberattack,” he warned.

“In 2017, we’re going to see it hit big sometime, somewhere,” Mr Carder told the Business Insider “If the internet goes down, financial markets will tank.”

The US firm specialises in security information and event management software across the globe. The official said there were signs throughout 2016 that online criminals were “testing missiles, by shooting them into the ocean.”

“We saw the massive DDoS against DynDNS just a couple of months ago,” he added.

“That DDoS attack took down sites like Twitter and Spotify for a few hours. We saw a similar DDoS hit Brian Krebs before the attack against Dyn.

“The power of influence is starting to shift away from mainstream news outlets, and I don’t think that is something those mainstream outlets can afford to let happen,” he underlined.

“They will respond to the fake-news threat by trying to implement some level of media control that will likely take it a little too far.

“I think hackers, in the name of protecting our freedom of speech, will retaliate by knocking down a major media outlet or two.”

LogRhythm is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado.