[rev_bird]

"Fix" is a relative term, especially if IoT devices are in play – yes, turning off the internet to customers stops the attack, but then (at least?) thousands of people lose internet connectivity because of a vulnerability that they could very well be powerless to fix. I'm not saying it's ok with me that an army of smart refrigerators could be taking out big chunks of the web, but it's a lot easier to tell someone, "Hey, either get the infection off your computer or re-format" than it is to make someone buy new lightbulbs and appliances.

[zzleeper]

Not powerless, just unplug their toaster and they get their internet back.

What is powerless is that many people today couldn't get twitter, github, reddit, spotify, box, etc. because many people don't care about securing their webcam.

[eridius]

I would hope things like smart refrigerators and lightbulbs actually still operate normally when the internet is out, right? By "normally" I mean similar to "dumb" versions of the same product. So a customer could fix the issue by kicking the device off the network (disconnect the smart fridge from the ethernet / wifi, unplug the hub for your light bulbs, etc) without actually having to immediately replace them.

[rasz_pl]

When a pipe breaks in your condo and starts flooding all the people below nobody asks which appliance might be leaking. Water is cut and you get the bill for _all of the damages_.