Mirai botnet attack

In October 2016, the internet was almost brought to a screeching halt. Twitter, Netflix, Amazon and other websites were knocked down thanks to a sophisticated cyber-attack on the American tech firm Dyn. At the time, there were fears it could be the opening shots in a new cyber war. The culprit was a massive cyber weapon known as the Mirai botnet, a hacking tool more powerful than the world had ever seen.