MalwareMustDie has discovered a new malware family designed to turn Linux-based insecure Internet of Things devices into a botnet to carry out massive DDoS attacks. Dubbed IRCTelnet, the malware is written in C++ and relies on default hard-coded passwords. The malware uses the “leaked” vulnerable IoT device’s login credential from the Mirai botnet in order to brute force exposed Telnet ports to the Internet. The IRCTELnet malware infects insecure devices running a Linux Kernel version 2.6.32 or above.
Source: https://thehackernews.com/2016/10/linux-irc-iot-botnet.html