Across the globe, a massive number of smart devices are now becoming a part the Internet of Things (IoT) — a technology the world is growing to love and rely on. However, it has a dark side too that is affecting our lives — security. Smart devices manufacturers are not always overly concerned when it comes to security, which makes most of the smart and IoT devices to vulnerable to cyber threats.
How Dangerous Are IoT And Smart Devices
According to a report, last year, a report by Neustar International Security Council (NISC) revealed that many businesses are concerned about unsecured IoT devices when it comes to security. This report doesn’t seem to be a surprising one as the world have already witnessed some of the massive IoT-based cyber-attacks.
IoT devices often are weak in terms of security and are easy to bypass compared to other devices. This not only let the hacker take over the device but also let them carry out DDoS attacks by sending repeated and frequent queries that bombard the Domain Name Server (DNS). And Mirai is the perfect example of this. In 2016, a massive DDoS attack hit the internet and it took down a huge portion of the internet. Dyn, a company that controls much of the internet’s DNS infrastructure became the victim of this nasty attack, which was carried out by IoT botnets with the help of malware called Mirai.
This might sound very biased but smart and IoT devices are not safe. Hackers are becoming so sophisticated that they can even hack pacemakers. That is not all, even connected cars are hackable — hackers can exploit a connect car and operated it the way they want. Sounds scary, right!
In 2017, multinational cybersecurity and anti-virus provider, Kaspersky Lab performed a vulnerability check on eight smart devices. And the results were not something close to great — out of all the eight devices, 7 devices were vulnerable, with weak default passwords (which in some cases couldn’t even be changed) and others left confidential information open to interception.
The worst thing was when the experts examined a popular “spy” toy — a phone-app-controlled car with a built-in camera. The issue was really serious with the device; it didn’t even require a password to get connected with phone, meaning, anyone could control the car. That is not all, the device could also record sound and video.
No matter how good smart and IoT devices are, we just can’t ignore the risk it presents. There was a time when cybercriminals would only focus on big firms and conglomerates, however, with the rise of smart devices, today anyone could be a target.
Outlook
The growing number of malicious programs targeting IoT devices are increasing at jet speed, demonstrating how serious the problem of smart device security is. The past couple of years have already shown that these threats are not just conceptual but are in fact very real. While manufacturers continue to embrace this trend of embedding IoT into every possible device and connecting devices to each other and the Internet, it is also making devices a target for exploitation and security attacks. So, the security of mobile devices is becoming a top concern.
Therefore, in order to keep our data safe and sound here some tips that would help you:
- Before purchasing a smart device, always do your research on the internet. And this includes weighing the pros and cons.
- If the device comes with a default password, it is always advised to change it before using it. And if the device doesn’t let you change the password, don’t consider buying it.
- It the device gets connected to other devices without an authentication process, then don’t opt for it.
- Make sure you don’t let you smart or IoT devices connect to multiple devices. Also, don’t connect to free/open public Wi-Fi.
- Also, update the device firmware every time an update is available.
