The Internet Of Things | 007 Software

Yesterday, we looked at two hot areas to be aware of regarding your online security: Data breaches and mobile security. Today, we’ll look at two more areas that haven’t caused as much trouble or damage as the other two, but are likely to grow in importance.

Internet of (Every)Thing at risk

The “smart” home has been in the works for some time now, and this year, we’ll see more and more gadgets from household appliances to wearables like fitness bracelets to industrial equipment becoming connected to mobile devices and social networks. This proliferation of inter-connected things will open up a whole new glorious space for hackers to play in.

We predict that from now on, devices will increase by an order of magnitude (not too bold a prediction, huh?), and of course, that will result in greater privacy and security concerns. A breach in the Internet of Things (IoT) will give cybercrooks the ability to install malware or ransomware on private networks – not only consumer, but corporate and government – steal personal information, or even cause physical harm to a space or a person. But before you run around the yard yelling, “Skynet is falling, Skynet is falling”, we will see adware uploaded on our smart TVs.

What to keep your eye out for

New technologies and businesses around the IoT including

o Increased demand for low cost bandwidth and processing

o Expansion of infrastructure that carries Wi-Fi traffic

o Start-ups focused on communication and sensors between devices, storage, data analytics

o Home and factory automation

The rise of “fog” computing architectures, where data is closer to the source as opposed to residing in a data center somewhere

Room for improvement

Keeping multiple smart devices updated with the latest version of this-and-that software. You think it’s hard now with a couple of devices? Wait until your house, body, garage, and workplace are full of smart gadgets.
The fractured ecosystem will make it harder to identify threats or protect against security exploits.
Home routers are still unsecure and people are using open, unencrypted Wi-Fi. Start by securing your own home router by scanning with Avast’s Home Network Security scan, then follow whatever suggestions are given.

Social media world

By now, social media users know that sharing too much personal information can give strangers access to their personal life. To illustrate that point on a national scale, Allstate Insurance, aired a series of commercials about what happened to a couple who shared on social networks that they were away from their home for the weekend. Read about it on our blog.

Last year, we saw new privacy settings introduced on social media, and 2015 will see a rise in anonymous interactions via social media.

Hoaxes and scams spread by email and social networks were successful in 2014, as they have been for years now, so we see no reason that occurrences will decrease. Social engineering can trick unwitting victims and the rate of identity theft will increase.

What to keep your eye out for

Continuation of scams associated with important events like celebrity gossip or sporting events.
Watching videos on Facebook equaled watching videos on YouTube at the end of 2014, so we can expect hackers to take advantage of this by hiding malicious links in Facebook videos.
More fraudulent and malicious ads will appear on social networks.
Ransomware made the jump from PC to mobile in 2014, and it will likely hit social networks.

Room for improvement

Cut back on sharing too much on social media and through Internet of Things devices.

Adjust privacy settings in each social network.

For a month now, I have been reading predictions for 2015. In the security field, something new and unexpected can always pop up – like the Point-of-Sale (PoS) breaches in early 2014 – but most likely what will happen is just a continuation, that is, a natural evolution, of what has already occurred.

So let’s take a look at some things that will probably happen this year and steps we can take to stay safer. Tomorrow, we’ll look at a few more.

Data breaches will continue

Data breaches made the news in 2014, and in 2015 we will continue to see security breaches of companies, irrespective of size or business sector. These breaches are often caused by software vulnerabilities, advances in data stealing malware, and as we have seen recently with the Sony breach, by states using cyber espionage against other states.

What to keep your eye out for

Heartbleed and Shellshock were successful at using vulnerabilities in software that we depend upon. We expect to see more of the same in 2015.
Increase in phishing and social engineering attacks on employees of big companies in order to break in.
Health care organizations are at risk because many of them use outdated software and have rudimentary security. Plus, there is so much valuable data to be stolen like sensitive patient records.
More revelations that governments and even companies are using cyber attacks against each other.

Room for improvement

Companies need to tighten up the security processes of their employees, vendors, and third party suppliers who have access to their systems.
Companies need to adopt advanced threat solutions to secure their PoS networks from breaches.
Enterprise breach detection methods need to be improved because cybercrooks will likely go after the bigger fish.
Passwords are not adequate protection for our personal or financial accounts. Two-factor authentication will be adopted more widely, as will new methods like ultra-sonic sound.
Consumers and companies should update from the old, vulnerable Windows XP.

Mobile is attractive to cybercrooks

Since our mobile phones are as powerful and can accomplish nearly all the things a regular computer can, that gives cybercrooks a relatively easy in-road to your private data and financial information. 2015 will see consumers becoming more aware of mobile security since they will increasingly use mobile apps that contain sensitive banking, financial, and personal health information.

What to keep your eye out for

Increase in phishing attacks of mobile users. It’s worked successfully so far, so hackers will keep employing methods to trick employees or vendors into revealing login credentials like usernames or passwords, or installing malicious software. Targets will be more high profile.
iOS security breach on a wider scale. As companies allow executives and employees to use their own handsets, iPhones will become a more lucrative target. Add to that the iCloud Drive sync, ApplePay, and all those fancy new wearable gadgets, and cybercrooks have new attack vectors to explore for the future.
After the success of the stolen celebrity photos, the cloud has become a pretty interesting target for cybercrooks. Think of all the information we store in the cloud – especially company info. iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, and other cloud technologies are vulnerable.
Compromised Wi-Fi networks will lead to interception and redirection of mobile traffic like voice and SMS using Man-in-the-Middle attacks.

Room for improvement

Bring-your-own-device to the workplace means that IT security folks need to take a hard, long look at their policies or more data could be at risk.
Businesses need to work on a Mobile Security defense plan, or run the risk of

exposing the entire organization to threats.

Security for mobile apps needs to increase. Developers will agree on a way to secure the app’s code as well as the user’s data accessed by their application.
Comsumers will take responsibility for their devices security by installing software like Avast Mobile Security and Anti-theft.

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