A virus targeting IoT devices? Maybe we have finally 'made it'.
By: Larry Bellehumeur | Oct. 3rd,
2016
Over
the weekend, while looking for something to watch for a long
treadmill run, I came across some of the old Roasts from the Comedy
Network. The one that really cracked me up was the Roast of
David Hasselhoff…quite funny if you like that sort of
humour.
What brings this to mind is the idea
that you “only roast the ones you love”, which also means that you
only roast someone when they have achieved a certain level of
success in the world. In a weird way, this is similar to how
viruses work…you only bother writing one when they are enough
devices to make it worthwhile to attack.
It is actually for this reason, not
necessarily because of its impenetrable nature, that Windows devices are more hit
by viruses than Mac-based ones…why go after 10% of the PC market
(with mostly students, academics and artists who tend not to have
as much money anyways) when you can target 90% of the market with
Windows-based attacks, including most businesses in the world?
Over the past month or so, I have been
following the activity closely on the Linux/Mirai virus, which
seems to want to attack IoT-based devices, Web cameras and even
DVRs. It does so using default passwords and terminal
services on many devices.
So, it makes me wonder, with a tear in
my eye, does this mean that IoT has finally “made it”?
Viruses are not a joke, but it is good to
finally be on their radar.
At one point, no one bothered to attack IOS-based devices,
believe it or not. There simply was not enough of them to
justify the effort. Well, that certainly has changed, as
there are now millions upon millions of them. The same now
seems to hold true for IoT-based devices. It seems that
hackers are starting to delve into this area, mainly due to its
increasingly growing base and maybe because they often are attached
to some pretty desirable targets…like ATM devices, hydro meters and
traffic light controllers.
With the level of importance in our day to day life increasing,
it is to be expected that IoT devices will be targeted at an even
greater frequency. We have all heard stories about how baby
monitors have been hacked, how people can use it to open garage
doors and even stories about how some cameras have been
hacked. However, as we move more and more of our devices to
the world of IoT, security is playing a huge role in this.
One way to secure yourself is to simply use a good modem.
Lower cost modems often lack many of the security functions that
are needed to ward off such attacks. It doesn’t mean that you
need to spend thousands of dollars per site, but you need to choose
a modem that will provide you and your information with 7x24
security to protect your business.
The Bottom Line
No device is now immune from attack on the Internet, I think we
all know that…or, at least we should. Simple steps can
prepare your modem to prevent such attacks. Our friends at
Sierra Wireless have posted a Technical
Bulletin to help their customers with this
issue. We will post any other vendors information as it
becomes available.