Just Imaging — What if, you enter into your home from a chilling weather outside, and the heating system fails to work because of a cyber attack, leaving you in the sense of panic?
The same happened late last month when an attack knocks heating system offline in Finland.
Last week, a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack led to the disruption of the heating systems for at least two
On Thursday, we compiled a story based on research published by a British security expert reporting that some cyber criminals are apparently using Mirai Botnet to conduct DDoS attacks against the telecommunication companies in Liberia, a small African country.
In his blog post, Kevin Beaumont claimed that a Liberian transit provider confirmed him about the DDoS attack of more than 500 Gbps
Someone is trying to take down the whole Internet of a country by launching massive distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks using a botnet of insecure IoT devices infected by the Mirai malware.
It all started early October when a cybercriminal publically released the source code of Mirai – a piece of nasty IoT malware designed to scan for insecure IoT devices and enslaves them into a
With great power comes great responsibility. Powerful words. We’re not talking about a web-slinging superhero though, but a different type of web altogether -the World Wide Web- and with the ongoing expansion of the Internet of Things, its increasing connection to the physical world is inspiring awe and wonder, but also a growing necessity for out-of-the-box thinking and creative risk assessment from cyber security experts the world over.
Here at Panda Security, we have gathered a few of our ideas on ways that hackers could get unprecedented access to your daily lives through the app-integrated devices you keep at home.
As the Internet of Things continues to integrate seemingly inane and unrelated objects, an entire comprehensive home operating system seems increasingly likely. While this will turn your house into a streamlined living space completely catered to your comfort, it could also put you at greater risk of falling victim to a cyber attack in your own home.
Central to any future smart home’s security would surely be its locking system.
Recent investigation, though, has shown that smart locks are alarmingly easy to hack, making them embarrassingly unable to guarantee the function they are there to provide in the first place.
Current systems simply make it too easy for a cyber hacker to actually physically enter your home.
We’ve thought further ahead though; what if a hacker were to completely invert their use of this technological weak spot in the future? If a smart lock can be compromised in order to open it, maybe hackers will find a way to keep your doorway completely shut.
The future’s equivalent of a home invasion could be completely silent, a hacker controlling events from a distance, perhaps asking for a sizeable ransom before letting you out of your own home.
It may make a terrible idea for a film script (Home Very Alone) but it’s a terrifying thought nonetheless. If all of your security devices are interlinked, cyber attackers could potentially also have access to your house alarm and even your car keys.
One safety feature that is already incorporated into some smart smoke detectors available on the market is the ability to let a smart house pull information from, and manipulate, other smart devices so that they can react accordingly in case of an emergency. This feature is implemented for the user’s safety, allowing a house that detects a fire, for example, to unlock all the doors in the house in aid of a speedy exit.
That is a great example of the way IoT businesses are working to seamlessly integrate and interconnect devices within smart homes. However, there is one strong reservation; if this technology is breached by a cyber attacker, there is the potential for setting off a chain reaction that could greatly reduce the safety of a smart home.
Another way that a hacker could potentially intrude from afar is by setting off a false smoke alarm that will send for the fire services. The chaotic scene could act as a smoke screen, making you a soft target for other potentially malicious cyber attacks.
One of our wilder ideas perhaps, but with all the furor about exploding mobile phones at the moment, we’re aware that IoT is increasingly putting us in the position of giving hackers access to potentially explosive devices!
Could this be manipulated in a cyber attack? Attackers typically work en masse, such as in distributed denial of service attacks (DDOS), where thousands of emails or requests are sent to a server to slow down or crash the intended target’s servers.
If that’s the case we could face a future in which hackers try to send as many machines into overdrive as possible in the hope that some will malfunction. A terrifying prospect, and perhaps part of the reason for which government agencies have been liaising on the potential dangers of IoT related cyber attacks.
Remember that Simpsons episode in which Marge falls for a Pierce Brosnan voiced AI house operating system that does the cooking and is secretly planning to “get rid” of the rest of the family? As bemusing as it may seem we may only be a few small technological leaps away from mirroring the events of that hilarious, yet horrifying, HAL parody.
Ok, granted your fridge isn’t about to have an intelligent conversation with you, and much less hatch a murderous scheme against your family. However, as far back as two years ago, the CIA were highlighting the threat of smart refrigerators in people’s homes.
The Central Intelligence Agency were alarmed when a refrigerator was used as part of a “zombie” network to perform a DDOS attack. All of this unbeknownst to its owners, who had no idea their fridge had taken on a, quite devilish, new purpose aside from keeping tomorrow’s lunch cool.
As these devices become smarter, tracking your shopping habits and ordering deliveries for the home, could a hacker gain access to your bank details or disrupt your order? All we know is that AI and fridges are best left as a spooky cartoon vision for now!
The post Are (IoT) Smart Homes of the Future As Smart As They Say? appeared first on Panda Security Mediacenter.
The whole world is still dealing with the Mirai IoT Botnet that caused vast internet outage last Friday by launching massive distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against the DNS provider Dyn, and researchers have found another nasty IoT botnet.
Security researchers at MalwareMustDie have discovered a new malware family designed to turn Linux-based insecure Internet of Things (IoT)
It seems the current DDoS tactics from cybercriminals is to gain control over millions of IoT devices and direct their power towards any target they choose.
The post Trick or threat? How zombie IoT devices surprised the internet appeared first on WeLiveSecurity.
The infamous botnet that was used in the recent massive distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against the popular DNS provider Dyn, causing vast internet outage on last Friday, itself is flawed.
Yes, Mirai malware, which has already enslaved millions of Internet of Things (IoT) devices across 164 countries, contains several vulnerabilities that might be used against it in order to
Guess how many devices participated in last Friday’s massive DDoS attack against DNS provider Dyn that caused vast internet outage?
Just 100,000 devices.
I did not miss any zeros.
Dyn disclosed on Wednesday that a botnet of an estimated 100,000 internet-connected devices was hijacked to flood its systems with unwanted requests and close down the Internet for millions of users.
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IoT devices, while extremely useful for simplifying various mundane aspects of everyday life, also offer criminals a new attack platform: your appliances.
The post The Hive Mind: When IoT devices go rogue appeared first on WeLiveSecurity.
You might be surprised to know that your security cameras, Internet-connected toasters and refrigerators may have inadvertently participated in the massive cyber attack that broke a large portion of the Internet on Friday.
That’s due to massive Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks against Dyn, a major domain name system (DNS) provider that many sites and services use as their upstream
